| 1954 World Championships | |
|---|---|
| Location | Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy |
The FIBT World Championships 1954 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the fourth time after previously hosting in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), and 1950.
| Pos | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold |  Italy (Guglielmo Scheibmeier, Andrea Zambelli) | |
| Silver | Italy (Italo Petrelli, Luigi Figoli) | |
| Bronze |  United States (Stanley Benham, James Bickford) |
Italy earned their first championship medals since World War II.
| Pos | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold |  Switzerland (Fritz Feierabend, Harry Warburton, Gottfried Diener, Heinrich Angst) | |
| Silver |  West Germany (Hans Rösch, Michael Pössinger, Dix Terne, Sylvester Wackerle) | |
| Bronze | West Germany (Theo Kitt, Josef Grün, Klaus Koppenberger, Lorenz Niebert) |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Switzerland (SUI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | United States (USA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (4 entries) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
Pierre Fritz Lueders is a Canadian Olympic, world and World Cup champion bobsledder who competed from 1990 to 2010. He piloted both two-man and four-man bobsleigh, retiring after the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Victor Emery is a Canadian athlete and businessman. Emery was born in Montreal, Quebec. He is a gold medallist in the four man bobsleigh pilot from the 1964 Olympic Winter Games, as well as the 1965 World Championships.
Günther Huber is an Italian bobsledder who competed in the 1990s. Before taking up bobsledding, he had originally started his sporting career in luge, with his most notable result being a third place in doubles in the 1982 World Junior Luge Championships: he switched to bobsleigh in 1988.
The IBSF World Championships, part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, no World Championships being held in non-Winter Olympic years. A two-man event was included in 1931 with a combined championship occurring in 1947. Men's skeleton was introduced as a championship of its own in 1982 while women's bobsleigh and skeleton events were introduced in 2000. Both the women's bobsleigh and skeleton events were merged with the men's bobsleigh events at the 2004 championships. A mixed team event, consisting of one run each of men's skeleton, women's skeleton, 2-man bobsleigh, and 2-women bobsleigh, was held from 2007 to 2019. In 2020 it was replaced with skeleton mixed team event, consisting of one run each of men's and women's skeleton. Women's monobob event was included in 2021.
The FIBT World Championships 1937 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy (Two-man) and in St. Moritz, Switzerland (Four-man). St. Moritz hosted the four-man event previously in 1931 and 1935.
The FIBT World Championships 1939 took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland (Two-man) and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy (Four-man). St. Moritz hosted the two-man event for the second time after hosting it previously in 1938, along with hosting the four-man event in 1931, 1935, and 1937. Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the two-man event previously in 1937. It was the last world championships that would be held prior to World War II and the last that would be held with bobsleigh events in separate locations until 2000 when the two-woman event debuted that year.
The FIBT World Championships 1950 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the third time after hosting the event previously in 1937 (Two-man) and 1939 (Four-man).
The FIBT World Championships 1957 took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland for the record eighth time. The Swiss city had hosted the event previously in 1931 (Four-man), 1935 (Four-man), 1937 (Four-man), 1938 (Two-man), 1939 (Two-man), 1947, and 1955. It also marked the first time the unified championships took place in the same location in consecutive championships.
The FIBT World Championships 1960 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the fifth time. The Italian city had hosted the event previously in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, and 1954. This was an extraordinary event because bobsleigh was not included in the program at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.
The FIBT World Championships 1966 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the sixth time, having hosted the event previously in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, 1954, and 1960. The Four-man event was cancelled following the death of West Germany's Toni Pensperger during competition. Pensperger would be awarded a posthumous gold medal from the FIBT along with his surviving teammates Ludwig Siebert, Helmut Werzer, and Roland Ebert. As of 2010, Pensperger's death would set the FIBT to increase and improve safety among all bobsleigh competitions at all levels, including the Winter Olympics and the World championships.
The FIBT World Championships 1971 took place in Cervinia, Italy.
The FIBT World Championships 1975 took place in Cervinia, Italy for the second time, hosting the event previously in 1971.
The FIBT World Championships 1981 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the seventh time, having hosted the event previously in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, 1954, 1960, and 1966. Following the death of West Germany's Toni Pensperger at the track in 1966, numerous safety improvements were done at the track which were satisfactory enough for the FIBT to allow the championships to be hosted. These improvements would not be enough as American bobsledder James Morgan was killed during the four-man event. The death of a stuntman on the track during the first day of filming of For Your Eyes Only, done a week after these championships led track officials to shorten the track to its current configuration. Cortina would not host another championship until 1989.
The FIBT World Championships 1985 took place in Cervinia, Italy for the third time, having hosted the event previously in 1971 and 1975. Except for competitions in St. Moritz, Switzerland and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, it would be the last time a championship would be hosted on a naturally refrigerated track with all other competitions taking place on artificially refrigerated ones.
The FIBT World Championships 1989 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy (Bobsleigh) and St. Moritz, Switzerland (Skeleton). Cortina hosted the championships for the eighth time, having hosted the event previously in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, 1954, 1960, 1966, and 1981. Meanwhile, St. Moritz hosted a championship event for the record sixteenth time. The Swiss city had hosted the event previously in 1931 (Four-man), 1935 (Four-man), 1937 (Four-man), 1938 (Two-man), 1939 (Two-man), 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1982, and 1987. The skeleton event became an official championship event this year, albeit at a separate location from the bobsleigh event. They would not be at the same location other than St. Moritz for the first time until the 1996 championships in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The FIBT World Championships 1993 took place in Igls, Austria (Bobsleigh) and La Plagne, France (Skeleton). This was Igls's fourth time hosting the championships, doing so previously in 1935 (Two-man) and 1963, and 1991 (Skeleton). Meanwhile, La Plagne was hosting its first championship event.
The FIBT World Championships 1997 took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland (Bobsleigh) and Lake Placid, New York, United States (Skeleton). St. Moritz hosted a championship event for the record eighteenth time. The Swiss city had hosted the event previously in 1931 (Four-man), 1935 (Four-man), 1937 (Four-man), 1938 (Two-man), 1939 (Two-man), 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1989 (Skeleton), and 1990 (Bobsleigh). Meanwhile, Lake Placid hosted a championship event for the seventh time, doing so previously in 1949, 1961, 1969, 1973, 1978, and 1983.
The FIBT World Championships 1999 took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy (Bobsleigh) and Altenberg, Germany (Skeleton). Cortina hosted the championships for the ninth time, previously doing so in 1937 (Two-man), 1939 (Four-man), 1950, 1954, 1960, 1966, 1981, and 1989 (Bobsleigh). Altenberg hosted the championship event for the third time, doing so previously in 1991 (Bobsleigh) and 1994 (Skeleton).
The FIBT World Championships 2007 took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland for the record twenty-first time, doing so previously in 1931 (Four-man), 1935 (Four-man), 1937 (Four-man), 1938 (Two-man), 1939 (Two-man), 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1989 (Skeleton), 1990 (Bobsleigh), 1997 (Bobsleigh), 1998 (Skeleton), and 2001. The mixed team event consisting of one run each of men's skeleton, women's skeleton, 2-man bobsleigh, and 2-women bobsleigh debuted at these championships.
The FIBT World Championships 2011 took place 14 February – 27 February 2011 in Königssee, Germany, for the fifth time, doing so previously in 1979, 1986, and 1990 (skeleton), and 2004. In 2007, the championships were awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy over Winterberg Germany, but Cortina withdrew in February 2009 to issues with the city of Cortina.
