Luge

A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh 21–25 kg for singles and 25–30 kg for doubles. Luge is also the name of an Olympic sport. Lugers can reach speeds of 140 km/h. Austrian Manuel Pfister reached a top speed of 154 km/h on a track in Whistler, Canada, prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Lugers compete against a timer in one of the most precisely timed sports in the world—to one thousandth of a second on artificial tracks. The first recorded use of the term "luge" dates to 1905 and derives from the Savoy/Swiss dialect of the French word luge, meaning "small coasting sled".