Königssee bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track

The Königssee bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track is a venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton located in Schönau am Königsee, Germany. It is located near Königssee (German for "King's Lake"). Completed in 1968, it is the first permanent, artificially refrigerated bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in the world.

History

In 1967, Königssee hosted the European luge championships on a naturally refrigerated track. [http://sports123.com/lug/me-s.html FIL European Luge Championships mens's singles results since 1914] ] Later that year, it was decided to construct a permanent, reinforced concrete structure that was artificially refrigerated. The track, initially for luge, was completed in 1968. ["Bobsleigh and Olympism." "Olympic Review". December 1984. p. 1011.] The first international competition took place the following year with the FIL World Luge Championships ["Luge and Olympism." December 1983. p. 853.] On December 3-4, 1977, the track hosted the first Luge World Cup event won by Paul Hildgartner (Italy - men's singles), Andrea Fendt (West Germany - women's singles), and Italy's Peter Gschnitzer and Karl Brunner (men's doubles). [ [http://www.fil-luge.org/news/news-detail/article/no-drudgery-after-luge-festival-in-thuringia.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=45&cHash=b0f03d809f FIL-Luge.org article on the 200th Luge World Cup event.] - Access January 31, 2008.] Bobsleigh was added to the track in the 1970s in time for the track to host their sports' championship event in 1979, the first time any track would host both bobsleigh and luge in the same year in a non-Winter Olympic year (The track in Igls, Austria was the first to do this at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.). [ [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1976/orw1976.pdf 1976 Winter Olympics official report] , pp. 206-208 on the Igls track. en icon, fr icon, and de icon] ). [http://sports123.com/bob/mw-2.html Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931] ] [http://sports123.com/lug/mw-s.html FIL World Luge Championships men's single results since 1955] ] Skeleton first competed in the late 1980s, hosting the world championships in 1990. [http://sports123.com/ske/mw.html FIBT men's skeleton world championships men's skeleton results since 1989] ] The track was part of Salzburg, Austria's unsuccessful bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics in 2007. [ [http://www.salzburg2014.com/download/Salzburg2014_BidBook_VOL-2_THEME8.pdf Salzburg2014 Book 8 on bid featuring Königssee bobsleigh, luge, and track bid] , pp. 51-54. en icon & fr icon]

tatistics

Championships hosted

*FIBT World Championships: 1979, 1986, 1990 (men's skeleton), 2004 (all bobsleigh and skeleton events)
*FIL European Luge Championships: 1967 (As a natural track.), 1972, 1973, 1977, 1988, 1994
*FIL World Luge Championships: 1969, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1999

References

External links

* [http://www.bsd-portal.de/index.php?id=368 BSD profile] de icon
* [http://fibt.pixabit.de/index.php?id=153&track_id=9&L=0 FIBT track profile] - Click on video link for track. To left is where bobsleigh intersects with men's single luge part of track, then followed right after with luge - women's singles, luge - women's doubles, and skeleton parts of the track.
* [http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/Track/koenigssee_en.htm FIL-Luge.org track profile]
* [http://www.weltcup-koenigssee.de/ Official website] de icon
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSERPnWP3cQ Youtube.com profile of American luger Brian Martin from the men's singles luge start house.]