Bobsled officials rave about Cortina track, a good sign for 2026 Olympics being held there
Italy appears to be one big step closer to having the sliding events at next year's Milan-Cortina Olympics on its own track after all.
The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said Friday that it has declared this week's testing period at the Cortina d'Ampezzo track 'successful' and that it looks forward to the 2026 Olympics being held at the rebuilt track.
That's not the official word — that will likely come from the International Olympic Committee — but it is the strongest suggestion yet that Cortina's ambitious construction project will bring the Olympic bobsled, skeleton and luge races there and not require the Plan B site of Lake Placid, New York.
About 60 sliders from 12 countries, half of thm from Italy, tested the track this week in what is called pre-homologation. The reports from those sliders, evidently, were positive.
'Minor adaptions still need to be done and the main focus must remain on the finalization of the construction works,' IBSF president Ivo Ferriani said in a news release distributed Friday. 'The feedback we received from our technical experts and the coaches and athletes on site this week, has been very positive. We are thrilled about this outcome and the entire bobsleigh and skeleton community cannot wait to come back here for our World Cup in November, further training — and then of course the pinnacle of all competition, the Olympic Games.'
Work is scheduled to continue at the site until Nov. 5, at which time the facility — which still needs a roof and event-support buildings — will be handed over to Milan-Cortina organizers.
Simico, the Italian government agency in charge of the 118 million euro ($128 million) project, reported positive results for the test runs. But it will be officials from the IBSF, International Luge Federation and the IOC who determine whether to bestow preliminary certification for the track.
Ferriani's words were an indicator that the IBSF is on board.
Preliminary approval would be a big step in avoiding a backup Plan B option that the IOC had demanded and which would require moving the three sliding sports all the way to Lake Placid if the track in Italy wasn't finished in time. Lake Placid officials were hopeful that, if the sliding events were going to be awarded to the U.S., the official word would come by the end of March.
Luge athletes are scheduled to have an international training period at the new track from Oct. 27 through Nov. 2, then return for a test event there in the final week of November. The bobsled and skeleton tours will hold their international training period from Nov. 7-16, followed by the season-opening World Cup races there from Nov. 17-23.
The 1.749-kilometer (1.09-mile) Cortina track features 16 curves with an estimated top speed of 145 kph (90 mph) and with run times slated for 55-60 seconds.
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This is the fifth in a series on The Athletic looking back at the winners of each men's World Cup. The previous four articles have looked at Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934 and Italy again in 1938, before Uruguay won it for a second time in 1950. West Germany followed in 1954 — what about Brazil? It feels strange that it's taken until the sixth edition of this series to feature the most successful nation in World Cup history, Brazil, who probably should have won the 1950 tournament on home soil. Going into the World Cup in 1958, they were considered the favourites, although there were concerns about whether they would cope with the unfamiliar surroundings of Sweden. At this point, the two World Cups played in South America had been won by sides from that continent, and the three in Europe followed suit. 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Brazil were nervous going into the final. They had collapsed in 1950, which was considered so disastrous that they changed the colour of their shirts, from white and black to yellow. But now they faced Sweden, who wore yellow, so Brazil had to change to blue. Furthermore, stormy weather in Stockholm meant the muddy pitch would favour the hosts' more pragmatic style. And when Nils Liedholm opened the scoring within five minutes, Brazil might have panicked. Advertisement But half an hour later, they had turned the game around — and done so with two near-identical goals. Both involved Garrincha, the gloriously unpredictable right-winger who bamboozled opposition left-backs throughout the tournament, in part because of his unusually misshapen legs. Here, the victim was Sven Axbom. Twice Garrincha dribbled past him on the outside. Twice he crossed low into the six-yard box. And twice Vava was on hand to score. 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Gustavsson desperately tried to bring down Pele with a knee-high challenge, but Pele soldiered on and provided a neat dipping volley to score. 'I could say that I thought about it, but I'd be lying,' Pele later said. 'It was a spur-of-the-moment reaction, quick thinking. After I controlled it, I was going to hit it, but I managed to think quickly and changed. That was one of the strengths in my life, and in my football, my improvisation, to change at the last second.' But it's interesting to read reports from Brazil's semi-final win over France, which mention how often he enjoyed knocking the ball over the head of defenders. It was one of those rare goals that was brilliant, but typical of the player's style. At full time, the Brazil players paraded a flag on their lap of honour. But it was the flag of hosts Sweden, rather than their own. Having wilted under the pressure on home soil eight years beforehand, Brazil loved their month in the calm surroundings of Sweden. They stayed in a small lakeside town named Hindas, close to Gothenburg, and spent their evenings fishing and enjoying the late sunsets. Advertisement Sweden's hosting of the tournament was considered the best yet, and the host nation's decision to abandon their opposition to foreign-based professionals playing for the national side (which had cost them qualification for World Cup 1954) meant they enjoyed a surprise run to the final. Brazil's decision to parade the Swedish flag was a recognition of their efforts as hosts and defeated finalists, and produced a standing ovation from the supporters in Stockholm. 'By the respective standards of the two countries, Sweden's triumph was at least as great as Brazil's,' wrote Camkin in his aforementioned book. With the perceived injustice of West Germany's win over Hungary in 1954 still fresh in the minds, this was a popular victory. 'There was no doubt this time that the best, immeasurably the finest, team had won,' wrote Glanville in The History of the World Cup. It often feels like tournament-winning sides play their best football in the group stage against weaker opposition, before becoming tighter and more cautious in the knockout phase. But Brazil became better and better, largely because of the line-up changes. Having started with four clean sheets in four games — 3-0 v Austria, 0-0 v England (the first goalless draw in World Cup history), 2-0 v Soviet Union and 1-0 v Wales — they then thrashed France and Sweden 5-2 with scintillating attacking performances. Although the 1970 winners are often hailed as the greatest World Cup side, it's generally agreed that they lacked a solid defence. In 1958, Brazil had no obvious shortcomings. (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Thibaud MORITZ / AFP, David Ramos, Jeroen van den Berg/Soccrates, Mattia Ozbot – Inter/Inter /Getty Images)
