Park City, Whistler return to World Cup luge schedule

The track at Utah Olympic Park. Photo: TownLift

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Luge’s governing body said it plans on bringing races back to North America for the first time in nearly three years, with stops planned for Park City, Utah, and Whistler, Canada.

The International Luge Federation released its planned schedule for the 2022-23 season on Monday. It starts with two consecutive weekends in Igls, Austria, on Nov. 25-27 and Dec. 2-4, followed by the North American swing.

Whistler will have racing from Dec. 8-10 and Park City is slotted to play host to a World Cup from Dec. 15-17. The Whistler race, if it happens as scheduled, would end a streak of 29 consecutive World Cup races held in either Europe or Asia.

The pandemic — along with visa troubles and concerns about international travel — played a role in keeping races out of the U.S. and Canada over the last two-plus seasons. The last World Cup luge race in North America was in Whistler on Dec. 14, 2019.

Lake Placid, New York, did not get a World Cup luge race this season. It will play host to a World Cup bobsled and skeleton race in December, as well as the world push championships.

Park City and Whistler are both on the World Cup bobsled and skeleton schedule for the coming season.

Park City would end the pre-Christmas portion of the luge World Cup schedule. The rest of the season sees stops planned in Sigulda, Latvia (Jan. 6-8), Lillehammer, Norway (Jan. 13-15), the world championships in Oberhof, Germany (Jan. 27-29), Altenberg, Germany (Feb. 3-5), Winterberg, Germany (Feb. 10-12) and St. Moritz, Switzerland (Feb. 17-19).