“It’s official,” state Olympic Regional Development Authority Communications Director Darcy Rowe Norfolk said on June 19. “It’s just another recognition and nod toward our ability to host World Championship-style events at the highest level.”

It will be the third time Lake Placid has hosted the FIL Luge World Championships, having done so in 1983 and 2009. This village has also hosted the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Championships 11 times, including most recently in March.

“We have shown that through the World Championships in Bobsled and Skeleton that we can host a successful event at that level,” Norfolk said. “It just further recognizes our ability, not only from the field play, but also from our staff, and the people that maintain and run the facilities that we can host and execute an event of that level.”

Lake Placid, and its ORDA-owned and operated sites, have been no stranger to hosting or potentially hosting major events like this. This past December, the village was named the “Plan B” backup for the 2026 Olympic sliding events, had the Cortina Sliding Center not been built in time.

While the Plan B site will not be activated, Lake Placid is seen as a key venue to host major sliding sports in the eyes of both the FIL and IBSF.

“Lake Placid is a place with Olympic spirit, great experience and a passionate luge community,” FIL President Einars Fogelis said in a statement. “The return of the World Championships to the USA is a strong signal for the global development of our sport.”

While the event is four years away, the Mount Van Hoevenberg track is currently under renovation, which includes a new start house for women and doubles luge, sustainable cooling systems and state-of-the-art video, lighting and timing technology.

“The timing is great in terms of just giving us another next step in our progress with our investments in all of our facilities, and then we’re going to have a number of World Cups coming up this season,” Norfolk said.

Some of those upcoming large-scale events at Mount Van Hoevenberg include the 2026 FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals, the UCI Mountain Bike World Series and an FIL Luge World Cup. This does not include other events, including North American Cups or national races.

“It’s an ongoing facility that is used not only for winter events at the highest level, but also it’s utilized for training with the push track, there’s USA Luge right here in Lake Placid,” Norfolk said. “So I think we’re highly looked upon as a location, from many perspectives, as a place to be.

The most recent edition of the FIL World Championships was held in Whistler, British Columbia — the site of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games — in February. During that event, USA Luge’s Emily Sweeeny of Lake Placid secured two medals, including a bronze in women’s singles and silver alongside Massena’s Jonny Gustafson in the mixed singles event.

With this being an Olympic year, the FIL World Championships will not take place during the 2025-26 luge season. The next one is slated for Innsbruck, Austria in 2027, followed by Koenigssee, Germany in 2028.