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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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
