Repilov, who won back-to-back men's singles gold medals at the FIL World Championships in 2020 and 2021 as well as a sprint title in the first of those events, also claimed he still considers himself to be the world champion.

The FIL has adopted one of the strongest stances among International Federations in response to the war in Ukraine, banning Russian athletes from its competitions and going beyond International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendations in expelling the country's representatives in the Executive Board, Commissions and Working Groups.

Its decisions meant Russian athletes were absent from last season's Luge World Cup and the World Championships in Oberhof.

Belarus is not a member of the FIL.

Speaking to Russian newspaper Sport Express, Repilov argued that the standard of competition had dropped without the participation of the country's athletes.

"They're a total mess, to be honest," he said.

"All the same people, all the same places, occupy the whole year.

"There was practically no variety.

"In some disciplines, there were not enough people.

"It should have been 30 to 32, but it was 28 to 29."

The men's singles featured five different winners from 12 World Cups, with Germany's Max Langenhan triumphing in the last six and Italy's Dominik Fischnaller taking the overall title.

In the women's singles, there were four winners from the 12 events, with Germany's Julia Taubitz the overall winner.

Austria's Jonas Müller triumphed in the men's singles at the World Championships despite not winning a World Cup event, while Olympic silver medallist Anna Berreiter of Germany was crowned women's singles world champion with just one victory on the World Cup circuit.

However, Repilov insisted he still considered himself to be the world champion from the previous World Championships in Königssee, where he competed under the Russian Luge Federation's flag because of anti-doping sanctions against the country.

"The competition is tight - thousandths of a second," he commented.

"And they take and remove one of the top countries and rejoice that no-one will punish them for this.

"The World Cup has become dreary.

"I watched the World Cup very carefully.

"I am the current world champion and still feel like that."

He also branded the winners in Oberhof as "fake champions".

The FIL declined to comment on Repilov's remarks.

The IOC last week allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to international sport as individual neutrals, provided they do not support the invasion of Ukraine and are not affiliated to the military.

It stressed that no decision had been taken on the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics or the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

The Luge World Cup season concluded on February 26, but the FIL's decision on Russian athletes currently remains in effect.