CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy: Organizers for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics are satisfied that they will construct a bobsled observe in file time amid a standoff with the IOC, which needs an current international venue used as an alternative to chop prices.
Italian luger Armin Zöggeler, who gained medals at a file six consecutive Winter Games, mentioned the International Olympic Committee’s suggestion of utilizing tracks in close by Austria or Switzerland doesn’t make sense as a result of neither facility is prepared for a contemporary Olympics.
The contentious concern is because of be resolved following a board assembly of the native organizing committee on Tuesday and Milan-Cortina chief govt Andrea Varnier addressed the scenario over the weekend.
“We knew from the beginning what the idea of the IOC was,” Varnier mentioned in Cortina. “They never thought that we should build a new sliding center. That’s very clear.
“Nevertheless, because of the tradition of Cortina, we always planned to have a sliding center in Cortina. So that was part of the conversation,” Varnier added. “And now of course they are very worried about the timeframe and this is a huge concern. But it’s not a surprise to them. We talk every day.”
Parma-based building firm Impresa Pizzarotti & C. has provided to rebuild the century-outdated observe in Cortina for 81.6 million euros ($89 million).
Zöggeler, who’s now the top coach of Italy’s luge staff, mentioned that by making a nationwide sliding middle in Cortina, the nation’s bobsled, luge and skeleton groups would save tens of millions by not having to continually journey overseas for coaching.
“It takes a big effort to constantly travel and stay in hotels for training, testing and races,” mentioned Zöggeler, whose daughter Nina is on the nationwide staff. “It would make things a lot easier if we had a track in Cortina.”
Zöggeler, who gained a medal at each Olympics from 1994 to 2014, additionally mentioned that the end space of the observe close to Innsbruck is just too brief and wishes an costly renovation, and that the naturally refrigerated observe in St. Moritz is just too dangerous to make use of.
Also, the Italian authorities doesn’t wish to fund the restoration of a international venue.
“The St. Moritz track is beautiful and gets rebuilt every year and the artisans there do an amazing job but if there’s a warm spell there’s a risk that you can’t race,” Zöggeler advised The Associated Press from the luge world championships in Altenberg, Germany.
“It’s one thing to hold a World Cup event and another to host an Olympics with three sports at once,” Zöggeler added. “Add in training sessions for all three and I’m not sure they could handle all that if it gets too warm.”
But the IOC is delicate about spiraling prices and potential white elephant initiatives, so is encouraging native organizers to make use of venues in different nations.
There had been additionally legacy guarantees when Italy final hosted the Olympics in 2006 in Turin. But the sliding venue constructed for about $100 million in Cesana Pariol for these video games was dismantled in 2012.
The Cortina observe, which was used for the 1956 Olympics, was closed in 2008 due to rising upkeep prices after which dismantled final summer season to make manner for a brand new facility.
“We are working on a legacy project and the town will do its part along with FISI (the Italian Winter Sports Federation) and the region,” Cortina Mayor Gianluca Lorenzi mentioned. “We will find a solution.”
Italy has a powerful historical past in bobsled characterised by Eugenio Monti, a Cortina resident who gained six Olympic medals between 1956 and 1968, and the nation has additionally excelled at luge and skeleton just lately.
Dominik Fischnaller gained a bronze medal in luge on the 2022 Beijing Olympics and the season-lengthy World Cup title final season and Amedeo Bagnis this month grew to become the primary Italian man to win a World Cup skeleton race after taking silver finally season’s world championships.
If the Cortina observe undertaking is accredited, building would begin with lower than two years to go earlier than the Milan-Cortina Games — and fewer than a yr earlier than IOC-mandated check occasions. No sliding observe has been constructed just lately in such a brief timeframe and check occasions have taken on even larger significance following the demise of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a coaching crash hours earlier than the beginning of the opening ceremony for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
It’s additionally notable that Cortina organized a bobsled world championships in 1960 when the native organizing committee for the Squaw Valley Olympics determined to not construct a observe as a result of solely 9 nations had been going to compete. It stays the one video games the place bobsled was not on the Olympic program.
“As far as we’re concerned, the decision has been made,” Lorenzi mentioned. “Cortina will host sliding in 2026.”
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AP protection of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
