Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck

The Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck is a venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton located in Igls, Austria (southeast of Innsbruck). 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.[1] It hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.[2]

Four-man wok racing at the 2006 World Championships held at the track. Germany's Georg Hackl is among the four-man team on the track.
Track map

History

In 1935, Igls hosted the two-man event of the world bobsleigh championships when the track ran from Römerstrasses to the Patscherkofel valley railroad station.[1][3] Several fatal accidents at the finishing curve occurred during competition, causing temporarily closure of the track until safety measures were introduced.[1] In 1960, Innsbruck was awarded the 1964 Winter Olympics which led to the construction of separate bobsleigh and luge tracks for the games.[4] Track construction began in September 1961 and was officially completed in July 1963 following test runs of both tracks, including twenty injuries during the 1963 FIBT World Championships on the bobsleigh track.[4][5] Prior to the start of the 1964 Winter Olympics, British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski was killed in a training run on the luge course.[6] When Denver, Colorado, in the United States withdrew in 1972 after being awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics two years earlier for financial reasons, the International Olympic Committee offered the games to 1976 runner-up Whistler, British Columbia in Canada (northeast of Vancouver), but Whistler declined in the wake of the provincial elections in 1972. As a result, the IOC gave the games to Innsbruck. Construction on a new, combined track was started in 1973 under the auspices of the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT) and the International Luge Federation (FIL) and completed the following year.[1][7] The track was praised by the FIL during testing in 1975 [8] and proved so successful that it fostered a commission with the FIBT and the FIL on construction of combination tracks in 1977 that continues to this day.[9] (Known as homologation, an example of this dual certification process occurred prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics, when adjustments to the track at Cesana Pariol were made following FIL concerns about the run.[10][11]) The track added a restaurant and was extended in 1981.[1] In 1990–1, the ladies start house at the fifth turn was renovated and the finishing stretch was extended in 1998.[1] The track was part of the OlympiaWorld-Innsbruck in 2004, the same year a general refurbishment was done on the concrete shell.[1] Today, it serves as a training facility for new bobsledders and skeleton racers.[12] It hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics.[2]

Statistics
Modern track
Sport[1][7] Length of track (meters) Number of turns Grade
Bobsleigh, skeleton, and Luge - men's singles 1270 14 14
Luge - women's singles & men's doubles[7][13] 870 10 8.5%

The track has a vertical drop of 98.1 meters.[12]

The 1964 Winter Olympic bobsleigh track, designed by former bobsledder and luger Paul Aste, consisted of 14 turns with a total length of 1506.36 meters, a vertical drop of 138 meters, and a maximum grade of 14.04%.[4]

1964 bobsleigh track turns[4][5]
Turn Number Name (German) Translated name
1. Startkurve "Start curve"
2., 3. Hohes S "High S" curves
4. Stützenkurve "Support curve"
5. Höcker "Peak" curve
6. Fuchsloch "Fox hole"
7. Hohle Gasses "Hollow lane"
8. Schanze "Dig"
9. Hexenkessel "Witch's pot"
10. - 11. Nadelöhr "Needle-eye" S curves
12. Burlepautz
13. Weckauf "Wake on"
14. Zielkurve "Finish curve"

The 1964 Winter Olympic luge track, designed by former bobsledder and luger Paul Aste, consisted of 18 turns with a total length of 1063.76 meters for men singles and a vertical drop of 113.20 meters, and a maximum grade of 18.18%.[4] For women's singles and men's doubles, the length was 910.00 meters with a vertical drop of 86.27 meters[4]

1964 luge track turns[4]
Turn Number Name (German) Translated name
1. Startkurve
2., 3. Labyrinth Two turns in quick succession without a straight (labyrinth)
4. Waldkurve "Wood curve"
5. Stoßwand "Impact wall"
6. Gletscherblick "Glacier view"
7. Hängematte "Hammock"
8. Wasserschlupf "Water slip"
9. Promenade "Promenade"
10. Fuchsloch
11. Koflkehre -
12. Schoß "Shot"
13. - 14. Mausfalle "Mouse case"
15. Olympiakurve "Olympic curve"
16. Wassertrog "Water trough"
17. Zielgerade "Finish line curve"
18. Zielkurve
1976 combination track
Turn Number Name Reason named
4., 5., 6. Upper labyrinth Three turns in quick succession without a straight (labyrinth)
7. Kreisel 270-degree Kreisel (circular) curve
11., 12., 13. Lower labyrinth Three turns in quick succession without a straight (labyrinth)

Turns 1–3, 8-10, 14, and 15 have no names listed in the track diagram.[7]

Track records
Sport Record Nation - athlete(s) Date Time (seconds)
Bobsleigh two-woman[14] Start  Canada - Kaillie Humphries & Heather Moyse 22 January 2010 5.50
Bobsleigh two-woman[14] Track  United States - Shauna Rohbock & Michelle Rzepka 22 January 2010 53.47
Luge - men's singles[15] Start Johannes Ludwig -  Germany 29 November 2009 3.865
Luge - men's singles[15] Track David Möller -  Germany 29 November 2008 48.533
Luge - women's singles[15] Start Tatjana Hüfner -  Germany 28 November 2009 2.003
Luge - women's singles[15] Track Natalie Geisenberger -  Germany 28 November 2009 39.569
Luge - men's doubles[15] Start  Austria - Markus Schiegl & Tobias Schiegl 29 November 2008 1.927
Luge - men's doubles[15] Track  Germany - Patric Leitner & Alexander Resch 28 November 2009 39.278
Skeleton - men[16] Track Martins Dukurs -  Latvia 3 December 2011 52.69
Skeleton - woman[17] Start Courtney Yamada -  United States
Amy Williams -  United Kingdom		 12 December 2008 5.33
Skeleton - women[17] Track Shelley Rudman -  United Kingdom 12 December 2008 54.65

Championships hosted

See also

References
  1. History of the Igls bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track
  2. 2012 Winter Youth Games venue listings in bid packages. - accessed 2 June 2010.
  3. Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931 Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1964 Winter Olympic Games Official report. Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine pp. 40, 65, 69, 165, 178, 180. (in German)
  5. Time magazine February 15, 1963 article on the 1964 bobsleigh track competition that lead to safety changes on the track
  6. Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2009). "Luge (Tobaggan): Men". In The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 168.
  7. 1976 Winter Olympics official report Archived 2008-02-26 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 143-5, 153, 186-7, 206-208. (in English and French), and (in German)
  8. "Luge and Olympism." December 1983. p. 854.
  9. "Bobsleigh and Olympism." Olympic Review. December 1984. p. 1012.
  10. FIBT President Storey and FIL President Fendt: "Olympic Track Summitt" in Berchtesgaden at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (6 June 2005 article accessed 2 December 2009.)
  11. 2006 Olympic Track in Cesana Pariol homologated by FIL. at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (31 October 2005 article accessed 2 December 2009.)
  12. FIBT track profile
  13. List of artificial tracks used - Click on Igls link for popup
  14. Rohbock Wins Women's Bob Finale; Martini Takes European Crowd. at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (22 January 2010 article accessed 22 January 2010.)
  15. From results shown from the FIL World Cup event during 28–29 November 2009 from live track results.
  16. Rommel Overtakes Tretiakov in Igls Skeleton at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  17. Rudman Wins Women's Skeleton World Cup in Igls at the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing
  18. FIBT men's skeleton world championships results since 1989 Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  19. FIL European Luge Championships men's singles results since 1914 Archived 2006-11-15 at the Wayback Machine
  20. FIL World Luge Championships men's single results since 1955 Archived 2007-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
  • FIBT track profile - Click on video link for track. Luge - men's singles intersects with the bobsleigh & skeleton part of the track prior to turn one, then where luge - women's singles & men's doubles intersect with bobsleigh-skeleton prior to turn five.
  • FIL-Luge.org track profile
  • Official website (in English and German)

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