Bobsleigh, skeleton officials still planning for full World Cup season
IBSF releases detailed schedules for 8 races
Bobsleigh and skeleton officials indicated Wednesday that they are still planning for a full World Cup season, releasing detailed schedules for eight races as well as the world championships that remain scheduled for February in Lake Placid, New York.
Also still on the schedule: a season-finale at the new track built for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The addition to the revised schedule released Wednesday was the addition of women's monobob to the schedule for Lake Placid's two weeks of world-title races.
It will be the first time that women's monobob is part of the world championships and means Lake Placid will play host to the biggest world championship program in International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation history.
The IBSF schedule calls for three World Cup races in Germany, along with stops in Latvia, Austria, Switzerland, China and at the 2002 Olympic track in Park City, Utah. The women's monobob event is scheduled to be part of five of those eight World Cups.
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The season is scheduled to start and end in China, with the first event on the IBSF calendar being the homologation event at the new track from Oct. 26 through Nov. 1. Homologation — the process of certifying a new track for racing — was scheduled to take place last spring, before it was delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak that originated in China.
It remains unclear if athletes from the U.S. or any other nation will take part in the homologation. Under typical circumstances, sliders from around the world are invited to participate and offer feedback on the new track.
The World Cup schedule starts in Sigulda, Latvia, in late November, followed by December races in Innsbruck, Austria, and Altenberg, Germany. Following the holiday break, the World Cup season resumes in January with stops in Winterberg, Germany, followed by St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Konigssee, Germany.
The world championships are in Lake Placid from Feb. 1 through Feb. 14, with the Park City World Cup on Feb. 20 and 21.
Most sliders will see the Beijing Olympics track for the first time during a training period scheduled there for Feb. 25 through March 6. The final World Cup is set to be there from March 12-14.