Winter Olympic Disciplines: Luge

Luge originally developed as a sport in Switzerland, where the first track was built at Davos in 1879. Four years later, the town hosted the first international competition, with competitors racing along a 4km track from Davos to the village of Klosters.

Luge made its Olympic debut at the Innsbruck Olympic Winter Games in 1964.

Luge is considered to be one of the most extreme Olympic winter sports. It involves sliding at high speeds on single or two person sleds on a special track with artificially frozen ice.

Athletes start in a seating position and after pushing off lie down on their back on the sled with their feet stretched out in front of them. The rider steers the sled by moving his or her center of gravity. The winner of the competition is the rider with the fastest time. During a run, the sled can reach speeds of over 140 km/h.

There are four Olympic Luge events: men’s singles, women’s singles and doubles, in addition the Olympic Games sports program in Sochi has added a relay competition for the first time. Men and women compete on the same track, but the women’s starting line is further down the course than the men’s.

Individual competitions for men and women in the single sleigh are held for two days with two runs per day. The four times are added together, and the fastest total time determines the winner.

The men's double luge is a one-day competition, in which the fastest total time of two runs determines the winner. There is no written rule that says a team must comprise members of the same sex, but men traditionally ride together.

In the Sochi 2014 Games teams will compete for the first time in a relay. This will consist of teams from each country: A woman (singles luge), a man (singles luge) and two men from the doubles luge. The runs sequence for each team: woman - man - doubles.

Riders wear special shoes that typically have firm, smooth outer soles. the luge shoes are often called "Calypso".

A one-of-a-kind track for luge, bobsleigh and skeleton, Sliding Center “Sanki”, a 9,000 seat facility, is built for the Olympic Winter Games of 2014.

State-of-the-art refrigeration technology ensures the accurate and constant monitoring of temperatures along the entire track.