• Winter Olympics

Luge to take place as scheduled

Officials have found nothing wrong with the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre © Getty Images

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The International Luge Federation has confirmed the competition will go ahead as planned after the local coroners' service found no fault with the track following the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili.

Kumaritashvili died after losing control at 90mph and crashing into a metal pole on the side of the track. Track designer Udo Gurgel called on the officials to make modifications, but the FIL have concluded that the accident was not the fault of the Whistler Course.

In a statement the Federation said: "The Coroners' Service of British Columbia, responsible for the investigation of all sudden deaths ... concluded their on-scene investigations on the track and transferred the decision to FIL as to when the track can be reopened.

"The FIL, through their technical officials, further investigated the cause of this tragic accident. Based on a physical inspection of the track and a fuller review they have concluded the following: It appears after a routine run the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make a correct entrance into curve 16.

"This resulted in a late entrance into curve 15 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."

Amid concerns that the track is too quick, the FIL has taken the decision to raise the wall and change the profile of the ice.

The statement continued: "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 to curve 16 and are changing the ice profile. This was done as a preventative measure in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again."

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