The FIL World Luge Championships 2009 ran on 1–8 February 2009 at the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Lake Placid, New York, United States for the second time after having hosted the event in 1983. They were awarded the event at the 2006 FIL Congress in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Event preparations In a September 17, 2008 interview with FIL, FIL Vice President for Sport Claire DelNegro stated that preparations proceeding well. DelNegro, a former director of the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (headquartered in Lake Placid), stated that she hoped that "...these championships will be a real challenge for all participating nations." A "Scholastic Sliding Challenge" (SSC) organized by the Olympic Regional Development Authority, the Lake Placid bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track operating authority, and included 22 schools in the Lake Placid area. This program was a continuation of a program that was started at the 2007 World Championships in Igls, Austria that continued at last year's world Championships in Oberhof, Germany. It was also used for the upcoming FIBT World Championships held later in February 2009 on the same track. The track was iced down on October 6, 2008, the earliest it has ever been iced in preparation for both the FIBT and FIL championships. Opening ceremonies took place on 6 February 2009. Television coverage Television coverage was provided by the German public TV station ARD as part of their shows on the 7th and the 8th. Eurosport provided live coverage both of the women's singles event on the 6th and of the men's singles on the 7th. Coverage was seen in the United States and Canada on demand with Universal Sports. Participating countries As of 21 November 2008, 21 countries agreed to participate in the event. These included the host United States, Germany, Austria, Russia, Czech Republic, Moldova, Italy, Romania, Norway, and Venezuela. Luge World Cup leaders As of 2 February 2009, the leaders of the 2008-09 Luge World Cup were as follows: Jury and technical delegates The jury was chaired by Switzerland's Joseph Benz with other members being America's John Mowry and Austria's Markus Schmidt. Technical delegates were headed by Latvia's Einars Fogelis with other members being Slovakia's Walter Marx and Norway's Bjoern Drydahl. Men's singles 7 February 2009. Run 1 took place 12:15 - 13:55 North American EST (17:15 - 18:55 UTC) while Run 2 took place 14:30 - 15:25 EST (19:30 - 20:25 UTC).