Today I got to the see the first run of the 2020 Luge World Championships that took place place in Sochi, Russia between 14 and 16 February. Last time I've seen the competition I said I'm not going to watch one ever as it's very dangerous and not pleasant to watch. The speed they are going with it's scary as all the time I have the feeling they are going to hit the wall and got injured. It has not happened yet while I've been watching but it's happened many times before and some lost their lives.
Today however the race was a very funny one. Funny for me but painful for some. Every athlete would be happy to beat a record, a world record if possible so their name would be tied to it and remembered for it by the whole world. Some are fortunate and can achieve such records, others are not.
The first competitor is always the one to establish the reference time and today that was the Russian Aleksandr Gorbatcevich. His time is a reference for the next one and if the next one is slower, then for the third one and so on till someone better comes along and takes first place.
Aleksandr Gorbatcevich had a very good run today and finished in 51.610. The commentator said his result is an excellent one, he broke the slope record that was established six years ago. Then came the German Johannes Ludwig and finished in 51.539 and broke the record set up by Aleksandr Gorbatcevich two minutes ago and became the new record holder. Then came the Russian Roman Repilov and finished in 51.513 and basically set up a new record.
Three slope records in like six minutes or maybe less. It was comical to say the least. Comical for me and for many spectators, not so comical for Aleksandr Gorbatcevich and Johannes Ludwig, who were record holders for approximately two minutes each today. At the end of the day I kind of felt sorry for them as they had a good occasion the remain in the history book but Roman Repilov was better and he's going to be remembered as holding the slope record at Sochi.
At some point it looked like Russia is going to dominate the podium but at the end they were not good enough, so they only got the gold. The Austrians took second and third place.
I guess I've changed my mind and won't be afraid of luge anymore. No major accidents has happened yet, so why worry. I'm going to get used to it and enjoy the event next time. It's full of surprises and a lot of fun, shame to miss it.