Luge track safety boosted after crash

BEIJING • The organisers of the Beijing Winter Olympics have implemented changes to training protocols in the wake of a luge accident on Monday that badly injured one of Poland's top hopes for the event.

Mateusz Sochowicz was travelling at 50 to 60kmh during a test run on the Olympic track in Yanqing, China, when he hit a barrier - that was closed but should have been open - on the track, suffering several fractures, cuts and bruises.

The 25-year-old luger, whose participation at the Feb 4-20 Games is now in doubt, was taken to a local hospital for surgery.

The track should have been cleared of all barriers before any test run, as required by standard safety measures, and the Polish national team coach lashed out at the organisers after the accident.

"It's more important that someone doesn't get Covid-19 than the safety of participants," head coach Marek Skowronski told Polish news portal Onet.pl. "What they did is scandalous."

After the accident, the International Luge Association (FIL) and the local operators inspected the track and improved the training protocols, a statement on the Beijing Olympic Games organising committee website read, and luge teams from several delegations have resumed training on the track north-west of the capital Beijing.

The FIL said additional safety measures had been put in place with immediate effect on Tuesday, including the "set-up of blockades at a start height once training moves to the other start".

Organisers had also reviewed starting intervals and locations and installed a screen to cover the part of the track where lanes merge "to identify the exact position of the switch/barrier", the governing body added.

A statement from the FIL said: "All parties involved feel very sorry for Mateusz Sochowicz and the Polish team and continue to do their best to safeguard the athletes' safety and do anything to avoid such incidents in the future.

"FIL, together with LOC (local organising committee) and Beijing 2022, will now make sure that Sochowicz receives the best available medical treatment while in China and after his return to Poland too in view of a speedy recovery."

At the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed during training on the luge run after losing control at high speed and being thrown over the sidewall of the track and then into a steel support pole.

The 2022 Beijing Games have been under scrutiny primarily for its coronavirus-control measures.

In keeping with China's strict Covid-zero policies, athletes and delegations will be required to be vaccinated and kept in tight "bubbles" to minimise their contact with others.

The country is currently battling a Delta variant-driven outbreak, with nearly two dozen Chinese provinces, including Beijing, undergoing massive tracing and testing, lockdowns and transportation disruptions to keep the virus from spreading.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS