Whistler Sliding Centre


The Whistler Sliding Centre is a Canadian bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in Whistler, British Columbia, that is north of Vancouver. The centre is part of the Whistler Blackcomb resort, which comprises two ski mountains separated by Fitzsimmons Creek. Located on the lowermost slope of the northern mountain, Whistler Sliding Centre hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Design work started in late 2004 with construction taking place from June 2005 to December 2007. Bobsledders Pierre Lueders and Justin Kripps of Canada took the first run on the track on 19 December 2007. Certification took place in March 2008 with over 200 runs from six different start houses, and was approved both by the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation and the International Luge Federation. Training runs took place in late 2008 in preparation for the World Cup events in all three sports in early 2009. World Cup competitions were held in February 2009 for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton. The top speed for all World Cup events was set by German luger Felix Loch at. In late 2009, more training took place in preparation for the Winter Olympics.
On 12 February 2010, the day of the Olympic opening ceremonies, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed during a training run while reportedly going. This resulted in the men's singles event being moved to the women's singles and men's doubles start house while both the women's singles and men's doubles event were moved to the junior start house. During actual luge competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics, there were only two crashes, which resulted in one withdrawal. Skeleton races on 18–19 February had no crashes though two skeleton racers were disqualified for technical reasons. Bobsleigh competitions had crashes during all three events. This resulted in supplemental training for both the two-woman and the four-man event following crashes during the two-man event. Modifications were made to the track after the two-man event to lessen the frequency of crashes as well. A 20-page report was released by the FIL to the International Olympic Committee on 12 April 2010 and to the public on FIL's website on 19 April 2010 regarding Kumaritashvili's death. Safety concerns at Whistler affected the track design for the Sliding Center Sanki that was used for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. This included track simulation and mapping to reduce top speeds by for the Sochi track.
Constructed on part of First Nations spiritual grounds, the track won two provincial concrete construction awards in 2008 while the refrigeration plant earned Canada's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design "gold" certification two years later.

History

Awarding and construction (2004–07)

At the 115th IOC Session held at Prague in 2003, Vancouver was chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympics over Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria. On 15 November 2004, it was announced that Stantec Architecture Limited, which designed the 2002 Winter Olympic bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Park City, Utah, in the United States, would provide detail design and site master plan of the track. The company was advised by the German track engineering firm IBG. IBG had designed the tracks used in Oberhof, Germany, the 1988 Winter Olympics in and the 2006 Winter Olympics. The German firm is also the designer of the Russian National Sliding Centre, the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Site construction of the facility began on 1 June 2005 following environmental approval under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Safety and security was then put in place on the site. During its peak of construction activities in the summer of 2006, more than 500 workers were involved both at the Sliding Centre and at the Whistler Nordic Venue. A core group of 60 workers was involved with track construction from June 2005 to December 2007. Basic track construction was completed in November 2007 though fit-out and testing continued into 2008.

First testing and certification (2007–08)

The first run was on 19 December 2007 with Canadian bobsledder Pierre Lueders and his brakeman Justin Kripps starting at the Junior Start house down the track. A total of six runs were made under the auspices of the FIBT. The Canadian Luge Association opened a branch at the track in February 2008. Luge tests occurred in late February 2008 and among the participants were Tatjana Hüfner, Erin Hamlin, Armin Zöggeler, and Regan Lauscher. Bobsleigh participants during certification in March 2008 included Sandra Kiriasis, Lueders, and Shauna Rohbock while skeleton participants included Kristan Bromley, Kerstin Jürgens, and Jon Montgomery. Over 200 runs were taken from six different starting positions on the track.
Praise was given both by the FIBT and the FIL over the successful certification of the track. The Vancouver Organizing Committee reviewed the recommendations made from both the FIBT and the FIL to fine tune the track. Canadian teams continued testing and training at the track until 20 March 2008. A total of 2155 runs took place at the track with a total of 15 crashes. Final track inspection by the FIL Executive Board took place 25–27 September 2008 before the International Training Week later that year.

2008–09 Luge World Cup, including training

International Training Week for luge took place at the track 7–15 November 2008. A total of 2482 runs took place during the training with several injuries occurring, most notably Loch, the 2008 men's singles world champion, who injured his shoulder. In a 9 December 2008 press release, the Centre was continuing certification by adding protections on the track against crashes and weather. FIL President Josef Fendt stated that the track's speed was too high with top speeds reaching during training. From the 2482 runs executed during the International Training week for luge, there were 73 crashes, a crash rate of three percent which was normal during new track testing. Three lugers, including Loch, were sent to the hospital, but were later released. Italy's Zöggeler stated that "The track can be tackled." and "does not see big problems for the athletes" while Fendt called for the top track speed for future tracks to be lowered to where possible. For the 2008–09 World Cup season at the Centre, 15115 runs were made for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton. After the World Cup event on 20–21 February 2009, Austria's Andreas Linger described the track as "fast, incredibly fast."
Loch stated that luge speeds for men's singles reached before turn three at the women's singles and men's doubles' start house. A total of 2818 runs for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton were made at the track during the four-week time period for the World Cup events. FIL President Fendt stated that " technical delegate told me this week that the Games could start tomorrow and the track would be ready." and he appreciated the whole Whistler Sliding Centre At the 2008–09 World Cup season finale, 135 athletes participated though 144 athletes from 23 nations were registered. During the Luge World Cup event that weekend, 186 runs took place with 16 crashes.

2008–09 Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup and training

The first bobsleigh and skeleton training week took place on 25–31 January 2009 to prepare for their respective World Cup events on 5–7 February 2009. A total of 250 competitors from 24 nations took part in the World Cup practice for all five events. Competition and weather affected testing and World Cup runs for the two-week time period. A team of 118 personnel and 276 volunteers worked consecutive weeks at the Training Week and World Cup events. Track director Craig Lehto stated that the volunteer efforts were similar to what he had seen both at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. The final two days of competition had 3000 total spectators. Medical services, led by VANOC and FIBT medical director Dr. David McDonagh, tested themselves with first responder care and mock scenarios that included athlete extraction from the sled if the accident was severe enough. These services were tested again during the Luge World Cup competition on 20–21 February 2009. A total of 15,000 spectators attended all five days for the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton World Cup events, all sold out. FIBT President Robert H. Storey stated that the Centre "... is fast, technical, demanding, and interesting.". A total of 235 athletes participated in the 2008–09 World Cup event.

2009–10 World Cups, including training

A paid training session took place 27 October – 7 November 2009 at the Centre for bobsleigh teams in preparation for the 2010 Games. On 9–15 November 2009, a second International Training Week for luge took place in preparation for the 2010 Games with the participation of 156 athletes from 27 nations. Venezuela's Werner Hoeger was knocked unconscious during a practice run on 13 November 2009 and was denied any further make-up runs. During training that week, Hoeger expressed concern about the safety of the track. These concerns called for the resignation of track director Ed Moffat, father of lugers Chris and Mike, to offer equal runs to all lugers in future events, to have Canada forfeit any extra training runs that were negotiated for the 2014 Winter Olympics, and for the Canadian Luge Association be reprimanded for unethical actions and not providing a safe sliding environment, especially after speeds were higher than expected. Canadian Luge Association officials declined to comment though they stated to the New York Times that the lugers received up to three times the amount of training runs offered in the run-up to the 2006 Winter Olympics at Cesana Pariol.
Team Canada did not participate in the World Cup event in Lillehammer, Norway during 12–13 December 2009 to train at the Sliding Centre and to compete at the Canadian National Championships that took place on 17 December 2009. A training restriction went into effect on 31 December 2009 where only host nation Canada and athletes from developing nations were allowed to train before the 2010 Games. For the 2009–10 season, there were a total of 15736 runs among bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton with a total of 115 crashes among the three sliding disciplines.