About Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh was developed from what we all did on snowy days as children, where we would all rush to the nearest hill with a piece of plastic or wood and launch ourselves down into the dangerous and unknown!
It took the next step in St Moritz, where English tourists started sledging down the village streets, and timing themselves in a basic form of competition. As the sport and fun grew, so did the injuries on hapless pedestrians. In around 1870, in order to keep the peace, yet encourage the fun and competition, local hotelier Casper Badrutt, build the first bobsleigh track to contain the mayhem. It is still in operation today and has hosted two Winter Olympic Games.
The 4 man bobsleigh featured at the first Winter Olympics in 1924. The 2 man competition was added in 1932. The women's bobsleigh started in the early 1990s, and the women made their debut in the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City 2002. There are also competitions in America, Europe and the World Cup championships.
Over the years the bobsleigh tracks have evolved from straight runs, to include twisting and turning. As design and technology have improved, so have the difficulty of the tracks. The most modern track in the world is in Sansicario and was part of the Torino 2006 Games. It is technically the most challenging course in the world. It has 19 bends, is 1435 metres long and bobsleigh reach more than 135km per hour in the decent.
The modern sleighs combine light metals, steel runners and an aerodynamic composite body. Competition sleighs must be a maximum of 3.80 metres long (for the 4 man crew). In 1952 the weight rule limit was added as prior to that crews tended to be very heavy. Now the maximum weight for the sleigh and crew is 630kg
Several tracks are open to the public to have a go. These include La Plagna (France), St Moritz (Switzerland), Lake Placid (USA), Sigulda (Latvia) and Sansicario (Italy). Alpine Apres organise trips to the Sansicario Track from the ski resorts of Sauze D'Oulx, Bardonecchia, Sestriere, Sansicario, Sestriere, Claviere, Mongenevre and Serre Chevalier. This includes a coach from your resort and a go on the four man bobsleigh.
