Sigulda bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track

The Sigulda bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track is located in Sigulda, Latvia. Currently, the track manager is Dainis Dukurs, former bobsleigh brakeman and the father of skeleton racers Martins and Tomass Dukurs.

History

Sledding took place in Sigulda as early as 1887. [http://www.sigulda.lv/public/eng/sport/sport_history/ History of sport in Sigulda in English.] - accessed February 21, 2008.] Several alpine skiing venues were held near the track following World War II. By the late 1960's, the city government of Sigulda approved construciton of a new track, which was finally completed in 1986. It was built for the needs of Soviet bobsledders and lugers. Although skeleton wasn't initially in the building plan, Sigulda has hosted World Cup races in skeleton in the 2000s. Also, luge competitions are hosted in Sigulda each year, however, the track can't host four-man bobsleigh races, therefore there haven't been any Bobsleigh World Cup or World Championship races hosted in Sigulda. Zintis Ekmanis and the original track designer has designed a new layout which would change two curves and make four-man bobsleigh races possible, though lugers are not happy with this idea [cite web | title = Latvijas kamaniņbraucēji kritiski vērtē ieceri pārbūvēt Siguldas trasi lv icon | publisher = TvNET | date = 12.03.2006. | url = http://www.tvnet.lv/onlinetv/lnt/zinas/article.php?id=180369] because this may render the track unusable for women's singles and men's doubles lugers. Also, Dainis Dukurs has said in an interview for Sporta Avīze that there was an experiment involving Juris Šics, Andris Šics, Tomass Dukurs and Martins Dukurs, in which the quartet drove with a four-man bobsleigh without crashing. Dukurs stated that this proves that the track is, in fact, suitable for four-man teams, but to make it perfect for bobsleigh, most of the track should be rebuilt. Reconstruction is expected to be completed in 2010. [ [http://esports.lv/bobslejs/03022008-siguldas_trase Discussion in eSports.lv] lv icon] Also, an artificial ice start estacade will be built in summer of 2008.

tatistics

No vertical drop, percent grading, or turn names were mentioned.

Championships hosted

*FIL European Luge Championships: 1996, "2010" [ [http://www.fil-luge.org/news/news-detail/article/54th-fil-congress-in-berchtesgaden.html June 30, 2006 FIL-Luge.org article on awarding the 2010 European championships to Sigulda, Latvia.] - accessed February 13, 2008]
*FIL World Luge Championships: 2003

References

External links

* [http://fibt.pixabit.de/index.php?id=160&track_id=18&L=0 FIBT track profile] - Click on video to show run down the track from a skeleton racer's perspective. Men's singles luge intersects with two-man bobsleigh/ skeleton part of the track prior to turn one while women's singles/ men's doubles luge intersect prior to turn four.
* [http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/Track/sigulda_en.htm FIL-Luge track profile]