St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun

The St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun (known officially as the Olympia Bobrun St. Moritz-Celerina) is a bobsleigh and skeleton track located in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Constructed in 1903, it officially opened on New Year's Day 1904 and is the oldest bobsleigh and skeleton track in the world and the only one that is naturally refrigerated used for bobsleigh and skeleton.

History

The track was initially created for winter guests from Great Britain who created bobsleigh. In 1897, the St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club was created. [http://olympia-bobrun.ch/main.php?cat=run&subcat=geschichte History of the track.] de icon] [ [http://www.bobclub-stmoritz.ch/ St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club official website] de icon] Because of popularity of the sport, fund raising for a track begin which 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. Track modifications have been made several times since the 1948 games, especially on the lower part of the track to meet the demands for higher speeds of the sleds and the increased braking issues after the end of the run. The Horse shoe curve, constructed of natural stones, was strengthened and its height and radius increased during the winter of 1995 and 1996 with a second and final modification taking place in 1995. This was also important with the addition of tour guides to the track that began in 1973 in terms of the wear and tear on the ice. [ [http://olympia-bobrun.ch/main.php?cat=taxi Bob taxi service at St. Moritz.] ] In 1972, the Dracula Start House (Starthaus Dracula in de icon) 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.

Current track turns and length

The track has 17 named curves that is 1,722 meters long with an elevation difference of 130 meters and an average grade of 8.14%. [ [http://fibt.pixabit.de/index.php?id=158&track_id=14&L=0 FIBT track profile] ] The curves were given their names by the British, which remain to this day. [http://olympia-bobrun.ch/main.php?cat=run&subcat=run_en History of the track] en icon] [ [http://olympia-bobrun.ch/main.php?cat=run Track diagram] de icon]

Track construction

The track construction begins around the middle of November and takes a crew of fifteen ice workers from the Tyrol region of Austria and Italy a total of three weeks to construct the track using 5000 m³ of snow and 4000 m³ of water. [http://olympia-bobrun.ch/main.php?cat=run&subcat=bahnbau Track construction details] de icon] 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 complete, 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 late February or early March, track dismantling begins and continues until the middle of June.

Track records

Because this is a natural track that is constructed and changed on an annual basis, there are no start records and track records.

Championships hosted

*FIBT World Championships (record 21 times, 22 after 2012): 1931 (four-man), [http://sports123.com/bob/mw-4.html Bobsleigh four-man world championship medalists since 1930] ] 1935 (four-man),, 1937 (four-man), 1938 (two-man), [http://sports123.com/bob/mw-2.html Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931] ,] 1939 (two-man), 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1989 (skeleton), [http://sports123.com/ske/mw.html FIBT men's skeleton world championships results since 1989] ] 1990 (bobsleigh), 1997 (bobsleigh), 1998 (skeleton), 2001 (men's bobsleigh),, 2007, and "2012".
*FIL World Luge Championships: 2000 [ [http://sports123.com/lug/mw-s.html FIL World Luge Championships men's single results since 1955] ]

References

External links

* [http://fibt.pixabit.de/index.php?id=158&track_id=14&L=0 FIBT track profile] - Number of championships listed is incorrect on the webpage (Shows 17 when it is 21).
* [http://olympia-bobrun.ch/ Official website] en icon, fr icon, de icon, & it icon
* [http://www.bobclub-stmoritz.ch/ St. Moritz Bob Club official website] de icon