Officials in Lake Placid, New York, have submitted a proposal to host the bobsled, luge and skeleton events at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games, as Olympic organizers seek to host active tracks outside Italy. .
It was announced in October that a venue outside Italy would be sought after previous plans to rebuild the Cortina d’Ampezzo circuit were scrapped. There are no elite-level sliding tracks in use in Italy.
Dwight Bell, president of the International Luge Federation, said Saturday that six countries have offered to host the event and that it is hoped a decision will be made by the end of January. The other countries are Austria, China, France, Germany and Switzerland.
The United States has two elite-level sliding tracks in Lake Placid, which hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, and Park City, Utah, which hosted the sliding sport at the 2002 Winter Olympics. With Park City focused on preparing for his 2034 Olympics, Lake Placid has offered to host his 2026.
Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority submitted the proposal this week.
“Our role at this stage is simply to help them present their proposal, get that proposal approved and get the broad support they need from local authorities, athletes and the NGB community. All we have to do is make sure we can do it,” Hirshland said. Thursday.
The World Cup circuit’s existing sliding tracks closest to the 2026 Olympic site are in Igls, Austria (83 miles northwest of Cortina) and St. Moritz, Switzerland (110 miles west of Cortina).
According to reports, Italian government officials separate from the Olympic organizing committee recently said that the Cortina track could still be rebuilt, or that the 2006 Turin Olympics track, which had not been used for 12 years, would be restored. He said that there is a possibility that
The organizing committee last week declined to comment on the Turin venue, saying it was “working to find the best solution for the sliding centre.”
And on Tuesday, the IOC said it expected the event to be held outside of Italy and that a decision would be made “in the near future.” This will be the first Winter Olympics to be held in multiple countries.