Luge FIL World Cup 2017 - 2018

[heywoodu 15,168]

1 minute ago, Gianlu33 said:

I'm very impressed by our materials.. I haven't idea what they do, they seems just amazing today. Ok, it's right, Sigulda is a good track for our team (like Igls ) but a podium in women's event... it's a joke? 

Yep, got you! Haha she finished 23rd 

 

 

[dcro 10,210]

I was so excited for Madeleine and Emily after run 1...

 

Just finished watching the replay of run 2.

[heywoodu 15,168]

4 minutes ago, dcro said:

I was so excited for Madeleine and Emily after run 1...

 

Just finished watching the replay of run 2.

 

Egle got off pretty good there...that could have been a rather bad crash 

[phelps 7,688]

5 hours ago, Gianlu33 said:

I'm very impressed by our materials.. I haven't idea what they do, they seems just amazing today. Ok, it's right, Sigulda is a good track for our team (like Igls ) but a podium in women's event... it's a joke? 

 it's just Walter Plaikner...he's really a magician...probably even better than Georg Hackl (since he doesn't have his budget)...

however, as you wrote, keep calm and remember that Lillehammer and Sigulda are not your average track (the fuc*in' Oberhof/Winterberg-alike sh**holes)...

 

p.s. a few years ago, Voetter and Robatscher were the best juniors of the world, going also 1-2 at the JWCHs well ahead of the Germans...

so, to me it's not a real surprise if they improve up to being world cup races' winners...

the problem, instead, is the opposite: why are they still so far from the top of the rankings?

[heywoodu 15,168]

Just now, phelps said:

 

the problem, instead, is the opposite: why are they still so far from the top of the rankings?

Because the German World Cup team has infinitely more money than the Italian World Cup team? 

[phelps 7,688]

2 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Because the German World Cup team has infinitely more money than the Italian World Cup team? 

 

that's obvious...

but I don't think this is the only question...I mean, we've always had a lot less money than Germany, Austria, Soviet Union/Russia or the US...

but we've won a lot among the men and a few times also among the women in the recent and not so recent past...

and we also won almost all of our medals without having a track where to raise our youngsters...

so, I think that there's also something else, something strictly "personal" regarding all those junior world medallist we've had in the past years that hadn't become the competitive senior sliders they were supposed to...

having well clear in mind that a new Armin Zoeggeler doesn't come out regularly every X years, I wouldn't stop the analisys to the lower budget (provided that's a big issue) of our federation, otherwise I don't think we're gonna find the way to change this situation and getting back to the competitive level we used to have in some periods of our luge sports history...

Edited January 27, 2018 by phelps

[De_Gambassi 1,223]

il y a 12 minutes, phelps a déclaré:

and we also won almost all of our medals without having a track where to raise our youngsters...

 

Which by itself is all kind of amazing. How did they manage to keep the tradition alive ?

[Gianlu33 4,589]

1 minute ago, De_Gambassi said:

 

Which by itself is all kind of amazing. How did they manage to keep the tradition alive ?

Sud-Tirol is very near to Austria and to Innsbruck track, they use it   All athlete of the italian team are from sud-tirol... It was more easy for they use the track in Austria than the Olympic Track in Turin

[phelps 7,688]

50 minutes ago, De_Gambassi said:

 

Which by itself is all kind of amazing. How did they manage to keep the tradition alive ?

 

as @Gianlu33 wrote, 99.9% of our lugers are from South Tyrol and so they are very close to Innsbruck (and the Igls track)...

moreover, in our mountains (not only in South Tyrol) we have a great tradition in Natural Track Luge...so, many kids start with that discipline (which is also propedeutical to Artificial Track Luge, since it develops the driving skills very effectively) and, once they grow up, some of them just make the transition to the Artificial Track Luge, mainly because it gives them the chance to pursuit the Olympic dream...

should NTL become an Olympic discipline, I fear that our ATL is gonna die sooner or later, since there will be no more Olympic "excuses" to jump from the early pastime to a new discipline to have a shot at the Games' participation...

Edited January 27, 2018 by phelps

[De_Gambassi 1,223]

il y a 9 minutes, phelps a déclaré:

 

as @Gianlu33 wrote, 99.9% of our lugers are from South Tyrol and so they are very close to Innsbruck (and the Igls track)...

moreover, in our mountains (not only in South Tyrol) we have a great tradition in Natural Track Luge...so, many kids start with that discipline (which is also propedeutical to Artificial Track Luge, since it develops the driving skills very effectively) and, once they grow up, some of them just make the transition to the Artificial Track Luge, mainly because it gives them the chance to pursuit the Olympic dream...

should NTL become an Olympic discipline, I fear that our ATL is gonna die sooner or later, since there will be no more Olympic "excuses" to jump from the early pastime to a new discipline to have a shot at the Games' participation...

 

Is there any fundemntal difference between natural and artifical tracks ? If not, natural tracks becoming the prime luge event sounds like the best thing that could ever happen to the sport. Unless... (What that tinfoil hat is doing on my head ?)