Protests Filed Over Germans’ Boots

The U.S. and Canadian luge federations filed separate protests with the international race jury after the first of Sunday’s two runs in men’s luge regarding the race boots worn by the three German competitors.

“The rules state that all equipment must be made available to all teams,” U.S. official Sandy Caligiore said. “We have been trying to obtain these boots for several months without success.”

The boots are made by Adidas, and Caligiore said, “The strange part is that we’ve been wearing and buying their boots for a long time, but they have not made these boots available to us for some reason. They’re a little faster by creating better air flow.”

Germany’s Georg Hackl, winner of the last two Olympic singles titles, was first after Sunday’s first round, and teammate Jens Mueller was third. Caligiore said he did not know when the race jury would rule.