Russian national team cleared for FIL World Luge Championship after COVID-19 testing

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. The Russian national luge team has been cleared to take part in the 2021 World Luge Championship after COVID-19 tests of athletes, coaching and assisting staff returned negative results, Sergei Chudinov, the head coach of the team, told TASS on Monday. The 2021 FIL (the International Luge Federation) World Luge Championship is scheduled to run in Germany’s Konigssee between January 29 and 31. The tournament was initially scheduled to be hosted by Canada’s Calgary and Vancouver, but was relocated due to the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus. "We have already passed a testing procedure," Chudinov said. "Everything is all right." "The whole team has been allowed to participate in the World Luge Championship," the head coach added. This year, the Russian team of lugers is represented at the World Championship in singles competitions by Roman Repilov, Pavel Repilov, Semyon Pavlichenko, Alexander Gorbatsevich, Tatyana Ivanova, Viktoria Demchenko, Yekaterina Katnikova. Alexander Denisyev and Vladislav Antonov, Vsevolod Kashkin and Konstantin Korshunov, Dmitry Buchnev and Daniil Kilseyev will be racing in the doubles competitions. The previous World Luge Championship was hosted by Russia’s Sochi in 2020, when the Russian team topped the overall medals standings having won five gold, two silver and one bronze medal. Germany’s Konigssee previously hosted the World Championship in 2016. At that time Russia won only one medal, which was the bronze clinched by Tatyana Ivanova in women’s competitions. The team of Russian lugers will be competing in Konigssee under the flag of the Russian Luge Federation (RLF) and their white and blue uniforms bear an official FIL logo. The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland’s Lausanne upheld on December 17 WADA’s (the World Anti-Doping Agency) previous ruling on a number of sanctions against Russian sports. According to the CAS decision as of December 17, 2020, Russian athletes were deprived of their right to participate in all World Championships, Olympic and Paralympic Games under the national flag of Russia for a two-year period. The national anthem of Russia was also ruled out to be played at international sport tournaments in the course of the next two years, including at the upcoming Olympic Games in Japan this year. The ruling of the Swiss-based court also stripped Russia of the right to bid for the organization of all international sports tournaments for the period of two years. WADA’s sanctions will be in force until December 2022. Read more