Preparations for the Winter Games, which will take place a little over a year from now, are badly behind schedule.
Cortina does not yet have a performance venue suitable for sledding. The last time the Winter Games were held in Italy was in Turin in 2006. PDO
Next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy are spreading badly due to unfinished performance venues.
Iltalehti previously reported that the construction of the jumping hills located in Predazzo is badly behind schedule and in the very early stages, even though there is still a good year until the start of the Games.
There are also problems with tobogganing venues, reports the German newspaper Bild.
In Cortina, it is planned to build a completely new performance venue for all luge sports competing in the Olympics, i.e. luge and wheel luge as well as skeleton. However, the schedule is lagging badly behind in this project as well.
The race hosts admitted to the news agency AFP that they have a plan B in mind, if the venue is not ready in time.
The proposal is rather harsh. The sport would be organized elsewhere, on a completely different continent. The backup plan is to organize a sledding event in Lake Placid, USA.
– Lake Placid is our official plan B, but only in the event that it is not possible to race in Cortina, a member of the organizing body told AFP.
The entity responsible for the track’s construction work has repeatedly been delayed from the schedules set for it or promised by itself. The construction work has also been slowed down by protests organized by nature conservationists.
According to the latest information, the track should be able to run the preliminary race in March of this year.
A big financial farce is developing from the Cortina Games. When the Games were awarded to Italy 2018, the price tag for the Games was said to be 42 million in the application. According to Bild, the price has already increased by more than 100 million euros.