The Italian was speaking at the FIL organisers' meeting in St Leonhard near the Austrian city of Salzburg, where preparations for the 2017-2018 campaign were discussed.

During the 2016-2017 season, athletes from a total of 30 national teams competed in the FIL World Cup, Sprint World Cup and Team Relay World Cup circuits, as well as the World Championships in Igls in Austria.

A total of 14,378 runs were completed across all events on the sport's calendar.

Rainer pinpointed the team relay competition as a particular highlight.

It is claimed the record participation of 15 teams at the 2017 World Championships fulfilled a long-held desire of the FIL Presidential Board.

"This is an indication of the positive development of luge as a sport in the National Federations," said an FIL statement.

The annual FIL organisers' meeting provides an opportunity for participants to share experiences and to pass on information in preparation for the following season.

The 2017-2018 campaign includes next year’s Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, for which the dates of competition were recently revealed.

The Games are due to take place from February 9 to 25 in South Korea.

Within these dates, it has been confirmed that luge competition will take place for six days from February 10 until 15.

Action is due to take place at the Alpensia Sliding Centre, also the venue for bobsleigh and skeleton action.

Germany will be hoping to repeat their clean sweep of Olympic gold medals secured at Sochi 2014.