Latvia’s Kendija Aparjode competes in the FIL Luge World Cup in Lake Placid on December 9, 2023. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — The International Luge Federation announced on Friday that it will replace the sprint World Cup with a new discipline for the upcoming World Cup season.

A mixed World Cup is slated to replace the sprint World Cup for the 2024-25 sliding season. The decision was made during by the FIL Sports Commission at the 72nd FIL Congress 2024 in Lake Placid on Friday. The sports commission voted in favor of the introduction of a new FIL race series for the World Cup and the World Championship, which will be held in Whistler, British Columbia on Feb. 7 and 8, 2025.

The sprint World Championships were introduced as a test event at the 46th FIL World Championships in Konigssee, Germany, in 2016.

In the mixed World Cup, one male and one female athlete will compete in the singles and, respectively, a men’s and women’s doubles team will compete in a separate mixed relay.

Each discipline will use its usual starting height. The first sled starts as usual in its event, the second sled starts after the athlete of the first sled touches the pad at the finish line. The gate for the second sled will open automatically as in the team relay. The touchpad at the finish should have a different shape than in the team relay. For the first time, mixed teams of two nations are allowed if they cannot field a mixed team of their own.

The premiere of the mixed World Cup will take place during the first World Cup of the season from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 in Lillehammer, Norway. Two more mixed World Cups in the disciplines singles and doubles will follow. The second mixed singles and mixed doubles World Cup will be held in Altenberg, Germany on Jan. 11 and 12, 2025 and the third and final mixed World Cup will take place at the 8th World Cup in PyeongChang, Korea, from Feb. 15 to 16, 2025.