Following a spell of doubts, 2026 Milano Cortina CEO Andrea Varnier is confident of hosting the sliding events at the Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, after a successful test event last week.
Earlier, there was a concern that the venue for bobsled, luge, and skeleton might not be ready in time with Lake Placid, New York, even being chosen at the secondary option.
The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation last week announced that the testing was successful.
“We were always very optimistic, but until the pre-homologation (testing) of course, there were a lot of doubts around us,” he said. “But we were confident, and we’re very happy now.”
Officials from the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, International Luge Federation and the International Olympic Committee will further determine if the track receives official preliminary certification.
The completion of the track is scheduled for November 5. Following that, the track would be handed over to the Milano Cortina 2026 to hold the Games.
Vanier said holding the event in Cortina will improve the experience for those involved.
“Very happy because that would be ideal for the athletes to be all together, to stay together in Cortina,” he said. “Will be ideal for the spectators who will have a more truly Olympic experience in Cortina, and also for for the media and all the operators that — it would have been very difficult to follow those sliding sports somewhere else in the world.”
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