The Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz-Celerina is a bobsleigh track located in the Engadin Valley, Switzerland. It officially opened on New Year's Day 1904 and is the oldest bobsleigh track in the world. It is also the only one that is naturally refrigerated. [1] It is used for other sliding sports, including skeleton and luge.
The track was initially created for winter guests from Great Britain who invented bobsleigh.[ citation needed ] In 1897, the St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club was created. [2] [3] Because of the popularity of the sport, fund raising for the track was completed in 1903 with CHF 11,000 raised. The track served as host to the bobsleigh events for both the 1928 and the 1948 Winter Olympics. [4] [5] Track modifications have been made several times since the 1948 games, especially in the lower part of the track to adapt on higher speeds of the sleds and the increased braking issues after the end of the run. The horse-shoe corner, constructed of natural stones, was strengthened and its height and radius increased during the winters of 1995 and 1996. This was also important with the addition of guest rides to the program in 1973. In 1972, the Dracula Start House (Starthaus Dracula (in German)) was demolished and a new structure was created to meet the needs of the bobsleigh organizers with further renovations done in 1992, 1993, and 2002. The last additional modification took place in 2002 with the addition of a runoff after the Portago curve that lead to the Frizzoni's Finish lodge. [2]
The track, with 19 curves, is 1,722 meters long with an elevation difference of 130 meters and an average grade of 8.14%. The curves were given most of their names by the British and remain to this day. [3]
| Turn Number | Name | Reason named |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | (Start) | Start at the start house "Dracula", after founder of the Dracula Club created by former St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club president Gunter Sachs (1969-2011). |
| 2. | Wall Corner | Named after a wall used to support the bobsleigh and skeleton turn. |
| 3. | Snake Corner | Curvy like a snake. |
| 4. | Sunny Corner | Sunniest part of the track. |
| 4a. | Monti's Bolt | Named after Italian bobsledder Eugenio Monti who, during the two-man event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, gave a bolt from his sled to British bobsledders Anthony Nash and Robin Dixon to repair their sled. Nash and Dixon would win gold in the event at those games. This turn serves as the start point to luge for the women's singles and men's doubles event. |
| 5. | Nash-Dixon Corner | Named for British bobsledders Nash and Dixon, gold medalists in the two-man event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, the only members of the St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club to ever do so. |
| 6. | Horse-Shoe Corner | Omega curve shaped like a horse shoe. |
| 7. | Telephone Corner | Where the first track telephone was installed. |
| 8. | Shamrock | |
| 9. | Devils Dyke Corner | |
| 10. | Tree Corner | There is a tree in the short wall of this corner |
| 11. | Bridge Corner | When you exit this corner you can see the train bridge. |
| 12. | Leap | |
| 13. | Gunter Sachs Corner | After the president of the St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club from 1969 to 2011. |
| 14. | Martineau | After Hubert de Martineau, a Major in the Swiss Army, who was president of the St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club from 1922 to 1969. |
| 15. | Portago Corner | After Alfonso de Portago (1929–57), who won the bronze medal for Spain in the two-man event at the 1957 FIBT World Championships held in St. Moritz only to die later that year during the Mille Miglia race in Italy. A foundation in his name was important in the renovation of the lower part of the track. |
| 16. | (run-out) |
The track is constructed out of ice-covered snow, and as such, the track is not exactly identical from year to year. [6] The track construction begins around the middle of November and takes a crew of fifteen ice workers a total of three weeks to construct the track. Construction follows the entire length of the track from start to finish. Because it is a natural track, length and elevation changes occur annually during construction. Once construction is completed, the fifteen workers split up into respective sections to maintain their area during the season which is done every afternoon and can take up to four hours. Once the bobsleigh and skeleton season concludes in early March, track dismantling begins. [7]
Bobsleigh or Bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. National competitions are often governed by bodies such as the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, and the German Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton Federation.
The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948, were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the first to be celebrated after World War II; it had been twelve years since the last Winter Games in 1936.
The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as St. Moritz 1928, was an international winter multi-sport event that was celebrated from 11 to 19 February 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled, down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance of the sled.
Sledding, sledging or sleighing is a winter sport typically carried out in a prone or seated position on a vehicle generically known as a sled, a sledge (British), or a sleigh. It is the basis of three Olympic sports: luge, skeleton and bobsledding. When practised on sand, it is known as a form of sandboarding. In Russia sledges are used for maritime activities including fishing and commuting from island to island on ice.
Major Thomas "Robin" Valerian Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran,, is a former British bobsledder and Northern Irish politician, known as Robin Dixon. He is a former Conservative Party Shadow Minister for the Olympics.
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) is the international sports federation for the sliding sports of Bobsleigh and Skeleton. It was founded on 23 November 1923 by the delegates of Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States at the meeting of their first International Congress in Paris, France. In June 2015, it announced a name change from FIBT to IBSF. The federation's headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck is a venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton located in Igls, Austria. The most recent version of the track was completed in 1975 and is the first permanent, combination artificially refrigerated bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track, serving as a model for other tracks of its kind worldwide. It hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.
The Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run is a venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton in the United States, located at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid, New York. This venue was used for the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and for the only winter Goodwill Games in 2000. The third and most recent version of the track was completed in 2000 with the track hosting both the first FIBT World Championships and FIL World Luge Championships done outside of Europe, doing so in 1949 and 1983. In 2010 the bobsled track was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Eugenio Monti Olympic Track was a bobsleigh and skeleton track located in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. It was named after Eugenio Monti (1928–2003), who won six bobsleigh medals at the Winter Olympic Games between 1956 and 1968 and ten medals at the FIBT World Championships between 1957 and 1966. It was featured in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, held after the 1981 FIBT World Championships, before the track was shortened to its current configuration. In January 2008, after one last bobsleigh race tournament, the track was closed.
The Canada Olympic Park bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in Calgary, Alberta. Part of Canada Olympic Park, it hosted the bobsleigh and luge competitions at the 1988 Winter Olympics. This track is one of only two of its type in the world to be featured in a non-documentary film when it was part of the 1993 American film Cool Runnings which loosely followed the Jamaican Bobsled Team during their competition in bobsleigh at the 1988 Games.
The FIBT World Championships 2013 took place at the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun in St. Moritz, Switzerland for the record twenty-second time, after hosting 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), 1990 (Bobsleigh), 1997 (Bobsleigh), 1998 (Skeleton), 2001, and 2007.
For the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, a total of five sports venues were used. The main stadium hosted the figure skating, ice hockey, and speed skating events. Skeleton was first held at the Cresta Run. Bobsleigh was held at the bob run. St. Moritz itself served as cross-country skiing venue and the cross-country part of the Nordic combined event. Weather gave two events run at these games problems, creating the largest margin of victory in Olympic history for one and the cancellation of the other.
For the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, a total of eight sports venues were used. The five venues used for the 1928 Winter Olympics were reused for these games. Three new venues were added for alpine skiing which had been added to the Winter Olympics program twelve years earlier in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. As of 2015, the bob run continues to be used for bobsleigh and the Cresta Run for skeleton while alpine skiing remains popular in St. Moritz.
The Olympic Sliding Centre is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track that is located in Daegwallyeong, Pyeongchang, South Korea. The centre is located between the Alpensia and Yongpyong Resort. The venue is one of only two operating sliding facilities in Asia, along with the Spiral in Japan.
Marina Gilardoni is a Swiss skeleton racer and former bobsleigh brakewoman. After starting her sporting career in heptathlon at the club level, Gilardoni began racing bobsleigh in 2007 and earned a place on the Swiss national team. She won gold medals at the Junior World Championships in 2008 behind driver Fabienne Meyer and in 2010 with Sabina Hafner driving. After the 2009–10 season, she switched from bobsleigh to skeleton. In 2018, Gilardoni was selected to represent Switzerland in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after the Dutch Olympic Committee refused one of their two entries and it was reallocated to Switzerland.
Lisa-Marie Buckwitz is a German bobsledder. She won a gold medal in the two-woman event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and also competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Bobsleigh at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics took place at the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun from 19 to 20 January 2020.
Skeleton at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics took place at the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun from 19 to 20 January 2020.
Laura Nolte is a German bobsleigh pilot, who began competing for the national team in 2015 and won the gold medal in the two-woman bobsleigh event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the youngest in bobsleigh history to win the title. In 2023 she has become the first European to win the Monobob World Champion title at the Sankt Moritz World Championships, while being also the winner of the 2023 European Monobob Champion title in Altenberg, Germany. In 2021, she won the gold medal in the two-woman event at the IBSF European Championships 2021 held in Winterberg, Germany. In the same season, she also won the gold medal in the two-woman event at the IBSF Junior World Championships 2021 held in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
