Luge athletes discover Sochi 2014 track

(http://www.olympic.org/news/luge-athletes-discover-sochi-2014-track/182653)
Luge athletes discover Sochi 2014 track

16/11/2012

Luge athletes from around the world got a first taste of the track for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games at the “Sliding Center Sanki” in Sochi, Russia, during an international training week from 3 to 14 November 2012.

The track, which will host the luge, skeleton and bobsleigh events, is located in Krasnaya Polyna and runs through the northern slope of the Aibga Ridge, meaning that it is protected from direct sunlight.

The echo of the athletes after the first test was positive:

Athletes’ voices

Tatjana Huefner, 2010 Olympic and four-time world champion from Germany:
“I like the track very much. It is a fine but difficult track. Even though there’s still a big building site all around, it’s rather obvious that there’s a lot of progress.”

Andris Sics from Latvia, 2010 Olympic bronze medallist in the doubles together with his brother, Juris:
“We like the track a lot.[…].Here in Sochi the entrances and the curves are long so that you need to really control the sled. If not you’ll lose time. The sections going uphill are interesting, too.”

Felix Loch, 2010 Olympic and three-time world champion from Germany:
“I believe that, in the future, the track will be on the World Cup programme regularly and will see World Championships. When everything is completed, the visual impact of the venue will surely be great.”

About the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

The next Olympic Winter Games will take place from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, located by the Black Sea in Russia. Some 2,800 athletes will compete in seven sports, comprising 98 medal events. In order to test the 10 competition venues in the run-up to the Games, Sochi is hosting more than 60 test events between December 2011 and September 2013.