Luge Track Re-Opens After Tragedy

By 250 News

Whistler, B.C. -  The Federation Internationale de Luge will allow men's training to resume later this morning on the luge track in Whistler, site of yesterday's fatal accident.

The Coroner's Service of B.C. and the RCMP concluded their on-scene investigation late Friday evening into the tragic death of a 21-year-old athlete from the Federation of Georgia on the track during a practise run earlier in the day.  The two agencies transferred the decision to FIL on when the track could be re-opened.

A news release from Vanoc says the FIL, through its technical officials, further investigated the accident and, based on a physical inspection of the track and a thorough review of the tapes, has concluded the following:

"It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16. This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident.  The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track."

The release says that, "Based on these findings, the race director, in consultation with the FIL, made the decision to reopen the track following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile. This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again." 

There will be two full training runs later this morning, with the competition taking place, as scheduled, at 5pm.

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