Olympics 2026 – Bobsleigh track at Königssee no longer an option

After its reconstruction, the artificial ice rink at Königssee will not be a candidate for Olympic sled races in 2026. This was confirmed by Thomas Schwab, CEO of the German association BSD, on Tuesday to the Sports Information ServiceOther German rinks are also no longer among the candidates if the facility in Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy is not ready in time. The organizing committee is apparently considering three other, partly surprising options as Plan B: the artificial ice rink in Innsbruck-Igls, which is about the same distance from the Olympic center in Milan as Cortina, the natural ice rink in St. Moritz – and the facility in Lake Placid in the US state of New York.

It was only last February, after some back and forth, that the construction contract for the ice track in Cortina was awarded, and the facility is to be completed by March 2025. Due to the tight schedule, the International Olympic Committee is demanding an alternative plan from the organizers and has clearly spoken out in favor of moving the competitions abroad. “We agreed to step in with three German tracks, but there was no further in-depth request,” said Schwab on Tuesday. “But that’s fine.” From the German perspective, it is an undesirable “emergency solution” anyway.