Russian luge athletes will not be allowed to compete in the upcoming World Cup event in Sigulda, Klāvs Vasks, President of the Latvian Luge Federation (LKSF), confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday.
Sigulda is scheduled to host the fourth stage of the Luge World Cup in early January during the upcoming season.
Vasks announced that an extraordinary congress of the International Luge Federation (FIL) will take place on Thursday, the 12th of November, where a decision will be made on whether Russian luge athletes should be allowed to participate in competitions under neutral status.
Latvia’s position remains unchanged, and the country will vote against granting neutral athlete status to Russian competitors. However, Vasks acknowledged that there is no certainty Latvia’s vote will be decisive this time.
Latvia has reminded the FIL that Russian athletes will not be permitted to compete in Latvia even under neutral status, as the existing Sports Law prohibits their participation.
Furthermore,
most members of the Russian national luge team were declared personae non gratae last year and are no longer permitted to enter Latvia.
As previously reported, Foreign Minister Baiba Braže (New Unity) last year placed 14 Russian luge athletes on Latvia’s list of undesirable persons for an indefinite period, emphasising that athletes from the aggressor state are not welcome in Latvia.
Vasks added that the LKSF intends to organise this year’s World Cup event without neutral or Russian athletes.
The LKSF president noted that the FIL leadership’s position on Russian athletes remains unclear, as the organisation receives funding from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and therefore cannot completely disregard decisions made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the IOC.
Vasks said that, as LKSF president, he had once again sent a letter to all national federations the previous day, condemning the idea of allowing Russia to return to international competitions.
“While respecting the wishes of CAS and the IOC to bring them back into competitions, my message was that as long as missiles are flying and the parents, friends and relatives of Ukrainian athletes are suffering as a result, we see no place for Russian athletes in the luge community,” Vasks said.
“Perhaps this is more of a symbolic protest, but we had to say it. Regardless of the eventual decision, we will have made our position clear,” the LKSF president added.
Aleksandrs Samoilovs, Director of the Sports Department at the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM), also stressed that it is important to maintain Latvia’s position until the very end and prevent Russian athletes from returning to international competitions.