World Luge Championships 2015: Dates, Schedule and More

After a year off to accommodate the 2014 Winter Olympics, the FIL World Luge Championships return from Sigulda, Latvia this weekend. It's a chance for the top athletes to start making their mark as the focus gradually shifts toward the 2018 Games.

The World Championships consist of four segments. On Saturday, the doubles competition will kick things off followed by the women's event. Then on Sunday it's the men who will start the action before the showcase ends with the team relay.

Let's check out all of the key details for this year's championships, followed by the schedule and a preview of the action from Latvia.

Key Information

Where: Sigulda, Latvia

When: Saturday, Feb. 14 – Sunday, Feb. 15

Course: Artificial Track

2015 Schedule

Date	Event	Start Time (ET)
Feb. 14	Doubles (1st Run)	3:10 a.m.
Feb. 14	Doubles (2nd Run)	4:30 a.m.
Feb. 14	Women (1st Run)	5:30 a.m.
Feb. 14	Women (2nd Run)	7:15 a.m.
Feb. 15	Men (1st Run)	3:10 a.m.
Feb. 15	Men (2nd Run)	5:10 a.m.
Feb. 15	Team Relay	7 a.m.

Event Preview

Anything less than more German dominance would be a surprise. Germany leads all countries with 109 total medals in the Luge World Championships. Second place? East Germany with 86 despite not having competed since 1990.

Austria is the next active country at 79. For comparison's sake, the United States barely cracked the top 10 overall with 13 total medals.

Felix Loch leads Germany's contingent in the men's competition. He's been nothing short of outstanding in recent years regardless of the stage. His resume shows two Olympic gold medals, four World Championship titles in the past five years and three straight World Cup crowns.

He's on pace for another World Cup triumph with four wins in seven races. No other competitor has more than one during the 2014-15 season.

In terms of American hopes, Chris Mazdzer has a chance to push Loch and potentially reach the podium. Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio notes the New York resident has been trending in the right direction recently:

"

Chris Mazdzer, from Saranac Lake, has competed well in recent weeks and captured a pair of bronze medals in World Cup races in Germany. He said the long training week that built up to tomorrow’s starts was great, but Mazdzer said the prep time has almost been too much.

"

As good as Loch has been, his countrywoman Natalie Geisenberger has been even better during the World Cup season. She's finished atop the podium in six of the seven stops on the circuit. She also won singles gold at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Julia Clukey from Maine is one of the lugers representing the United States. Ernie Clark of the Bangor Daily News passed along her update on the conditions the athletes have been facing:

"

The track's in really great shape, probably the best it's ever been here in Sigulda. It's a difficult track and oftentimes we see bumpier conditions than we're seeing this week so that's been nice.

It hasn't been super cold but they've done a good job of maintaining the ice and making sure that it's fast for every training session so it's been pretty consistent training and should leave us well prepared for the weekend.

"

The outlook is more of the same in the doubles and team relay competitions.

After a brief lull with no gold medals in doubles for three straight World Championships, Germany returned to the top of the podium with Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt in 2013. It also had the second-place finishers in Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken.

Those two teams have won all seven World Cup golds this season. The latter tandem has a slight 4-3 edge over their countrymen.

The last time Germany didn't win the team relay was 1999. That's 10 consecutive victories in the event for the country. The only reprieve its opponents have received came in 2011 when the team relay was canceled.

All told, expect to see a lot more black, red and gold flags rising above the podium in Latvia this weekend.