Olympics-Sliding centre for Italy's 2026 Games on track, icing to start in February, says IOC
By Karolos Grohmann
BERLIN (Reuters) - The sliding centre of the Milano-Cortina 2026 winter Olympics will be delivered on time, with the icing of the track to start next month, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday.
With Feb. 6 marking one year to go until the Games, the sliding venue for the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions remains on an extremely tight deadline.
It has been on one ever since the construction started after Italy opted to build a new facility instead of using an existing one in a neighbouring country.
The IOC had repeatedly voiced concerns over the planned new track, saying the use of an existing sliding centre outside Italy would keep costs down and cut preparation time.
"We have a very clear action plan: icing of the venue by the end of February and pre-homologation by the end of March," Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi told Reuters in an interview.
Pre-homologation in this case means the international bobsleigh and skeleton federation and the luge federation familiarising themselves with the track, testing the venue and making any necessary modifications before actual test events with competing athletes are held there prior to the Games.
Dubi said the test events in the venue would be held as planned to deliver the project for the Feb. 6, 2026 start of the Olympics.
Milano-Cortina Games organisers, however, raised eyebrows earlier this month, announcing that they had picked Lake Placid in the United States as their Plan B for next year should anything happen to the sliding centre project's timelines.
Several of Italy's neighbouring countries have existing sliding centres.
Dubi said the IOC had wanted a Plan B but the Italian organisers' choice of location was not one that needed the Olympic body's approval.
"We did not need to sign off on the location. That's not our responsibility," Dubi said.
"We signed off on a Plan B. We asked for a Plan B because we knew the schedule was incredibly compressed. Being where they are (with progress on the sliding centre) considering when they started is something to be pleased about," Dubi said.
Organisers are also racing to complete the multi-purpose Arena Santa Giulia which will be used for ice hockey.
Part of a wider development of the area, the arena has also been on a tight deadline since the start of its construction just over a year ago. It is planned to be delivered to organisers in the second half of 2025, just a few months before the Games start.
"It started when it started. As a result it was a tight delivery timeline," Dubi said. "We will get there on time but it is a venue that will be delivered to the organising committee towards autumn. That's why I am speaking about a tight timeline."
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