Utah Olympic Park bobsleigh/luge/skeleton track

The Utah Olympic bobsleigh/luge/skeleton track is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in Park City, Utah. Part of the Utah Olympic Park, it hosted the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

History

In 1991, Salt Lake City lost out by four votes to Nagano, Japan for the 1998 Winter Olympics. [http://www.gamesbids.com/english/archives/past.shtml Gamesbids.com archives of past awards of Olympic Games.] - accessed January 30, 2008.] Two years earlier, the Olympic Park, then known as the Utah Winter Sports Park, had been built in an effort to earn the Winter Olympics. [http://www.utaholympicpark.com/uop/uop_history.asp History of Utah Olympic Park] - accessed January 29, 2008.] Construction of the track began on June 3, 1994 and was completed on December 28, 1996. [http://www.utaholympicpark.com/uop/track.asp Utah Olympic Park track information] - accessed January 29, 2008.] During the track construction in 1995, Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics. The track had its first run at the tourist start with luger Jon Owen performing that honor on January 10, 1997 with the official opening occurring on January 25th of that year. The first bobsleigh World Cup competition took place in November 1998 and the track continues to play host to all three sliding sports in World Cup competition after the 2002 Winter Olympics. During the 2002 games, the track hosted 74,187 bobsleigh spectators, 14,860 skeleton spectators, and 64,104 luge spectators. [ [http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/2002/2002v1.pdf 2002 Winter Olympics official report, Volume 1. pp. 85-86.] - accessed January 29, 2008.]

Track technical details

s.

tatistics

The track is considered the "world fastest ice" and was where American luger Tony Benshoof set the highest recorded luge speed of 86.6 mph (139.5 km/h) on October 16, 2001 that made the "Guinness Book of World Records". [ [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_877.htm United States Olympic Committee profile of Tony Benshoof for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.] - accessed January 30, 2008.]

Championships hosted

*Winter Olympics: 2002
*FIL World Luge Championships: 2005 [ [http://sports123.com/lug/mw-s.html FIL World Luge Championships men's single results since 1955] ]

References

External links

* [http://fibt.pixabit.de/index.php?id=157&track_id=13&L=0 FIBT track profile] - Click on video link. Luge men's singles will intersect with the bobsleigh track at turn two while luge - women's singles/ men's double will intersect the bobsleigh track after turn three.
* [http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/Track/parkcity_en.htm FIL-Luge track profile]
* [http://www.utaholympicpark.com/uop/track.asp Official website]