Speaking to the International Luge Federation, Aschauer said the renovation of the track has been approved, but feasibility assessments were ongoing.

The Königssee sliding track was the first artificial ice track in the world, opened in 1968.

"We hope that the track can be rebuilt," he said.

"We have a commitment from the political side, but now the extent of the damage has to be assessed and the costs for reconstruction calculated. 

"We want to know more in September. 

"In any case, it will definitely be impossible to run sports in the coming winter. 

"This will have a dramatic effect on junior and youth sports in particular. 

"The young athletes already had massive restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the last season, and now they won't be able to train here in the coming winter either."

He thanked Olympiaworld Innsbruck for allowing ice time for their young athletes for regular training too.

"Innsbruck will even ice their track a week earlier for our squad," said Aschauer.

"We are very grateful to our colleagues from Austria."

Despite the destruction, he noted that many athletes - around 100 from Olympic to junior level - offered to support the clean-up. 

"The plan is that we want to sit down together in September," said Aschauer. 

"By then, the water management department should have a rough overview of what needs to be done. 

"By then we should also have approximate costs, although the cost vagueness is certainly at least 20 per cent. 

"When you start working, you can still find things that have also been washed free or are broken. 

"Then we have to see how we can manage the reconstruction."

The world's oldest artificial ice track was damaged in July by mudflow following heavy rainfall in Europe, leading to severe flooding across the continent.

A total of 184 people from Germany died in the floods, as well as 42 from Belgium and one from Italy, Romania and Austria respectively.

It was the deadliest natural disaster in Germany since the North Sea Flood of 1962, which claimed the lives of 347 people in The Netherlands and Germany.