The Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz-Celerina is a

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

track located in the Engadin Valley, Switzerland. It officially opened on New Year's Day 1904 and is the oldest bobsleigh track in the world. It is also the only one that is naturally

refrigerated The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

. It is used for other sliding sports, including skeleton and luge.

History

The track was initially created for winter guests from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

who invented bobsleigh. In 1897, the

St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club The St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club, officially known as Bobclub St. Moritz is a club located in St. Moritz, Switzerland for members interested in bobsleigh and skeleton. Founded in 1897, it is the oldest of its type in the world. The club is also resp ...

was created.History of the track
St. Moritz Bobsleigh Club official website
Because of the popularity of the sport, fund raising for the track was completed in 1903 with CHF 11,000 raised. The track served as host to the bobsleigh events for both the

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

and the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...

. Track modifications have been made several times since the 1948 games, especially in the lower part of the track to adapt on higher speeds of the sleds and the increased braking issues after the end of the run. The horse-shoe corner, constructed of natural stones, was strengthened and its height and radius increased during the winters of 1995 and 1996. This was also important with the addition of guest rides to the program in 1973. In 1972, the Dracula Start House (Starthaus Dracula ) 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, with 19 curves, is 1,722 meters long with an elevation difference of 130 meters and an average grade of 8.14%. The curves were given most of their names by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and remain to this day.

Track construction

The track is constructed out of ice-covered snow, and as such, the track is not exactly identical from year to year. The track construction begins around the middle of November and takes a crew of fifteen

ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

workers a total of three weeks to construct the track. 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 completed, 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 early March, track dismantling begins.Track construction details
Justin Kripps of Canada set the record

References

External links

IBSF information

Olympia Bobrun (Official website)

St. Moritz Bob Club History

St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun on Google Maps
{{coord, 46.501516, N, 9.847418, E, type:landmark_region:CH-GR, display=title Venues of the 1928 Winter Olympics Venues of the 1948 Winter Olympics Bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton tracks Olympic bobsleigh venues Sports venues in Switzerland Sport in St. Moritz Buildings and structures in Graubünden Bobsleigh in Switzerland 1904 establishments in Switzerland Sports venues completed in 1904