At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the bobsleigh and sled races will not take place in Italy. Italy’s Olympic organizers had long stuck to the plan for a new bobsleigh track, even though the building would probably have become the next Olympic investment ruin.
After the test-tube events in Pyeongchang and Beijing, the 2026 Winter Olympics will return to a place steeped in history: Cortina d’Ampezzo, which has hosted the Olympics for three years together with Milan, has already hosted the Winter Games once, in 1956. The famous ski resort in the The Dolomites have also served as a film set: Claudia Cardinale curved down the slopes of Cortina in “Pink Panther” as did Roger Moore as James Bond in “On a Deadly Mission”.
When it comes to the popular topic of sustainability, the 2026 Winter Games should also go back to the roots. Many competition venues already exist or are only intended to be used temporarily.
No more bobsleigh track in Cortina d’Ampezzo
What there is not, however, in northern Italy is a modern, competition-ready bobsleigh track: the old Olympic ice track in Cortina d’Ampezzo was closed down years ago. The Italian bid concept for the Winter Games initially called for the natural ice rink “Eugenio Monti“To build new.
However, as reported on Monday (October 16, 2023), the plans for the million-dollar project were officially buried by Italy’s organizers. Giovanni Malago, the president of the Italian Olympic Committee CONI, told the IOC Congress in Mumbai that an alternative location for the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions was being sought, which would probably be abroad.
This was preceded by years of political dispute in the region, which recently reached Italy’s government. It was only at the end of September that around 1,000 people, representatives of citizens’ initiatives, environmental organizations and local politicians protested against the planned mammoth project with the new bobsleigh track in Cortina d’Ampezzo. The provincial council of Belluno, responsible for the municipality of Cortina, had also issued a resolution calling on the government in Rome to look for alternative locations.
In addition to the ecological concerns – forest areas on the city limits would have had to be cut down for the new building – the “Ampezzini” feared a grave of millions for their community: A citizen representative estimated the maintenance costs for the railway alone at 1.5 million euros per year. The estimate of the total costs for the new building was recently revised upwards again, from 81 million to 124 million euros.
Olympic organizers held on to the new Cortina building for a long time
The right-wing regional government of Veneto had nevertheless stuck to the new building plans for Cortina for a long time, as did the Olympic infrastructure company Simico, which awards all contracts relating to the Games.
The newspaper “Nord Est Economia” quoted from a document from Simico, according to which there was no alternative to the new building in Cortina: Possible alternative locations, such as the track for the Turin Games in 2006, were either too expensive or could not be realized, according to the Olympic developers. The They compared the immense costs for the new building in Cortina with the expected income, including from the tourist operation of the railway.
Only rejections for the new Cortina building, even from large corporations
But the biggest problem for the Olympic organizers was that there was no construction company willing to take on the Cortina project when the official tender was submitted in July. The two largest Italian construction groups, which were subsequently invited directly by Simico, also declined. Also because the clock is ticking until the games: the first construction inspection should have taken place in November 2024, and the first test drives a year later.
Given the growing political pressure, the decision ultimately ended up with the central government in Rome, which instructed the Olympic committee at the weekend not to proceed with the plans for Cortina and instead to consider “sustainable options”. In other words: the bobsleigh and sled competitions should be held in 2026 on an existing track.
The only possible place for this is abroad: the Olympic track Cesana near Turin has been rotting since the games, largely unused, and renovation is considered too expensive. A possible alternative in the Alps would be Sankt Moritz in Switzerland, but the natural ice rink in Graubünden is considered unsafe due to the weather conditions.
Bobsleigh track Innsbruck-Igls as favorite
The ice rink in Innsbruck-Igls is therefore considered the most promising candidate. Before the decision against the new Cortina building, local politicians had already offered themselves as an alternative location to Italy’s Olympic organizers. The track in Tyrol is scheduled to be renovated starting next February, after the last World Cup races of the season. It would therefore be up to date and would also be ready for the 2026 Olympic Games. For a rent of twelve million euros, as Austrian media reports said.
Innsbruck would also be the only sensible solution in terms of transport, says Kaspar Schuler from CIPRA International, one of the numerous environmental organizations that criticized the construction of the new railway in Cortina from the start. “Innsbruck is directly connected to Milan and the other competition locations via the Brenner motorway and a train connection.“
IOC allows Olympic competitions abroad
The International Olympic Committee would also not block a possible move to Innsbruck. The IOC has committed itself to a more sustainable course – out of necessity after years of gigantism, with destroyed landscapes and expensive, unused investment ruins that were often left behind from the Games, can no longer be implemented in Western countries. Especially at the Winter Games, a number of potential organizers have recently dropped out.
The IOC has therefore developed the so-called “New norm” for Olympic bids is stipulated in its charter. Accordingly, existing facilities should be used for the competitions if possible. According to the IOC’s recommendation, they can also be located outside the host city, expressly even abroad.
During Milan-Cortina’s Olympic bid, the IOC evaluation commission had already expressed concerns about the plans for the old bobsleigh track. However, the IOC inspectors only spoke of a “renovation” (“Refurbishment“). The emotive word “new construction” of a facility – something that is actually no longer desirable according to the charter – was deliberately avoided.
The IOC also kept a low profile during the hanging game around the bobsleigh track in Cortina and left the responsibility to the Italian organizers. A request from the sports show as to what recommendations the IOC has for hosting the bobsleigh and sled competitions remained unanswered.
The fact that Italy’s Olympic organizers held on to the controversial construction of a new bobsleigh track for so long was probably also a question of the threat of loss of face. As the first host nation in Olympic history, Italy is forced to move competitions abroad because they cannot provide the promised sports facilities. This was the case with the nationalist government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni apparently seen as an embarrassment.
Wild speculation – bobsleigh competitions in Beijing in 2026?
However, Plan B with Innsbruck is no longer considered safe. The upcoming renovation could possibly take longer than expected, reported “Corriere della Sera“. There was even speculation in the Italian media about plans to hold the bobsleigh and sled competitions in Beijing in 2026, on the same track as the previous Winter Games.
However, the idea of putting teams and equipment on a plane to China for a handful of competitions would reduce the IOC’s sustainability promises to absurdity. The calculation for the total costs of the games, originally 1.8 billion euros, was recently revised upwards by the Italian government, to 3.6 billion euros.