Bump for the Luge World Cup starting this weekend, starting at Winterberg rather than Igls for technical reasons (lazy Austrians ). Since we are now going to Winterberg twice this season, this particular weekend will not count towards Olympic Quals, as discussed already,
There has been some changes for us oldsters, so maybe a guide for beginners as well.
Broadcasting
Good and perhaps not so good news. There is a new deal with Discovery/Eurosport. All three days of the weekend are now being covered including the Friday races which usually are not shown. Unfortunately, not clear whether the FTA option via YouTube and/or the FIL Page will still exist, or will be geo-blocked. Hopefully also they will stick with the excellent commentary format of one pro comms person on-site paired with a willing volunteer from the non-competing athletes.
Race formats
There are four sets of races now.
Nations Cup on Friday - the Qualifying races for the Saturday / Sunday World Cup. Top sleds are pre-qualified so don't take part here.
Mixed Races on Friday - These races are for the smaller nations who don't have large enough teams to participate in the Team Relays. Nations can either compete as a pair or as single nation partnerships along the lines of old historic friendships like /, /, /, / etc.
World Cup Races on Saturday and Sunday - The standard four formats of Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles
Team Relay on Sunday - Always exciting relays races in which the big nations run one team from each of the WC formats. Unlike every other form of Winter Sports team event, this is the one in which it is quite normal for even the biggest and best teams to seriously mess up & either disqualify themselves or have some kind of significant time delay.
Sprint races - Everyone hates them so hopefully they have been killed.
Beer
The race track at Winterberg is sponsored by a brewery and in the past winners have been given very large glasses of the product! Unfortunately, this is the alcohol-free version of the beer.