Whistler Sliding Centre

Awarding and construction (2004–07) At the 115th IOC Session held at Prague in 2003, Vancouver was chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympics over Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria. On 15 November 2004, it was announced that Stantec Architecture Limited, which designed the 2002 Winter Olympic bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Park City, Utah, in the United States, would provide detail design and site master plan of the track. IBG had designed the tracks used in Oberhof, Germany, the 1988 Winter Olympics in (Calgary) and the 2006 Winter Olympics (Cesana Pariol). Safety and security was then put in place on the site. A core group of 60 workers was involved with track construction from June 2005 to December 2007. Basic track construction was completed in November 2007 though fit-out and testing continued into 2008. First testing and certification (2007–08) The first run was on 19 December 2007 with Canadian bobsledder Pierre Lueders and his brakeman Justin Kripps starting at the Junior Start house (Location where the sliders start their run on the track) down the track. A total of six runs were made under the auspices of the FIBT. Luge tests occurred in late February 2008 and among the participants were Tatjana Hüfner (Germany), Erin Hamlin (United States), Armin Zöggeler (Italy), and Regan Lauscher (Canada). Bobsleigh participants during certification in March 2008 included Sandra Kiriasis (Germany), Lueders (Canada), and Shauna Rohbock (United States) while skeleton participants included Kristan Bromley (Great Britain), Kerstin Jürgens (Szymkowiak since summer 2008 – Germany), and Jon Montgomery (Canada). Over 200 runs were taken from six different starting positions on the track. Praise was given both by the FIBT and the FIL over the successful certification of the track. 2008–09 Luge World Cup, including training International Training Week for luge took place at the track 7–15 November 2008. A total of 2482 runs took place during the training with several injuries occurring, most notably Loch, the 2008 men's singles world champion, who injured his shoulder. In a 9 December 2008 press release, the Centre was continuing certification by adding protections on the track against crashes and weather. FIL President Josef Fendt stated that the track's speed was too high with top speeds reaching during training. From the 2482 runs executed during the International Training week for luge, there were 73 crashes, a crash rate of three percent which was normal during new track testing. Loch stated that luge speeds for men's singles reached before turn three at the women's singles and men's doubles' start house. FIL President Fendt stated that "[my] technical delegate told me this week that the Games could start tomorrow and the track would be ready." and he appreciated the whole Whistler Sliding Centre A total of 250 competitors from 24 nations took part in the World Cup practice for all five events (Bobsleigh two-man, bobsleigh two-woman, bobsleigh four-man, and men's and women's skeleton). Competition and weather affected testing and World Cup runs for the two-week time period. On 9–15 November 2009, a second International Training Week for luge took place in preparation for the 2010 Games with the participation of 156 athletes from 27 nations. Venezuela's Werner Hoeger was knocked unconscious during a practice run on 13 November 2009 and was denied any further make-up runs. Canadian Luge Association officials declined to comment though they stated to the New York Times that the lugers received up to three times the amount of training runs offered in the run-up to the 2006 Winter Olympics at Cesana Pariol. A training restriction went into effect on 31 December 2009 where only host nation Canada and athletes from developing nations were allowed to train before the 2010 Games. Public self-guided walking tours ran from 3 July through 31 August 2008. The cost to the public was 5 Canadian dollars (C$5) with children under 12 admitted free. During a 4–5 April 2009 weekend meeting of the FIL Commission at St. Leonhard, Austria, it was recommended that the Centre be host for the 2013 FIL World Luge Championships. This was confirmed on 19–20 June 2009 at the 57th FIL Congress meeting in Liberec, Czech Republic. Post-Olympic usage is a responsibility of the Whistler 2010 Sports Legacies which operates the Sliding Centre, Whistler Olympic Park, and the Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village. The goal of this organization is to promote the legacy of the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics, promote healthy lifestyles and tourism in the British Columbia province, and offer revenue for the maintenance of the three facilities. ==Championships hosted==

• 2010 Winter Olympics • IBSF World Bobsleigh and Skeleton Championships: 2019 • FIL World Luge Championships: 2013 • Bobsleigh World Cup: 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, • Skeleton World Cup: 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 • Luge World Cup: 2008–09, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20 ==2010 Winter Olympics==

Nodar Kumaritashvili On 12 February 2010, hours before the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili suffered a crash during a training run exiting out of turn 16. Kumaritashvili was injured when he flew off the track and collided with a steel pole. He was going at the time of the crash. His accident came after other crashes during that week. It was also luge's first fatality since 10 December 1975 when an Italian luger was killed. A joint statement was issued by the FIL, the IOC, and VANOC over Kumaritashvili's death. According to the Coroners Service of British Columbia and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Kumaritashvili's death was an accident caused by a "convergence of several factors", including the high speed of the track, its technical difficulty, and the athlete's relative unfamiliarity with the track. As a preventive measure, an extra of wall was added after the end of Turn 16, and the ice profile was changed. Also, the men's singles luge event start was moved from its start house to the one for both the women's singles and men's doubles event. Women's singles and men's doubles start was moved to the Junior start house of the track, located after turn 5. Germany's Natalie Geisenberger complained that it was not a women's start but more of a Kinder ("children" in ) start. Her teammate Hüfner, who had the fastest speed on the two practice runs at , stated that the new start position "does not help good starters like myself." Romstad stated that "[Kumaritashvili] ... made a mistake" on the crash though "any fatality is unacceptable". On 18 February 2010, FIL President Fendt issued the following statement: Kumaritashvili was buried in his hometown of Bakuriani, on 20 February 2010. Georgian National Olympic Committee president Gia Natsvlishvili and Georgia president Mikheil Saakashvili raised concern and anger toward the Sliding Centre's organizers that the safety concerns were not addressed. She was strapped to a backboard and placed on a stretcher though her arms were moving. Mihaela Chiras of Romania suffered the only crash of ten actual competitive runs (four men single, four women single, and two doubles), and that was during the second run of the women's singles event. Each of the five days of luge competition was attended by a sold-out crowd of 12,000 spectators. Germany's Hüfner in women's singles, and Austria's Andreas and Wolfgang Linger in doubles. Skeleton The first skeleton practice began down the full length of the track on 15 February 2010. It was the first time that had been done since Kumaritashvili's death three days earlier. No crashes occurred during the two days of skeleton competitions. Event winners were Montgomery in the men's and Britain's Amy Williams in the women's. Three crashes occurred during the two-man practice session on 18 February 2010. Supplemental practice was offered on 19 February 2010 to both the two-woman and four-man events out of caution, and further preparation for both events that took place the following week. For the first run on 20 February 2010, a sled from Australia crashed out and did not finish, while a sled from Great Britain was disqualified when the sled's brakeman was ejected during the first run. Liechtenstein's sled crashed out during the first run and finished, but did not start the second run. Temperatures reached on the afternoon of the 20th and were expected to reach on the afternoon of the 21st. Germany's André Lange and Kevin Kuske won the two-man event. Reactions from bobsledders about the track during the two-man event varied from exciting to anxious to dangerous. The Associated Press spoke to 13 of the 21 drivers who competed at the two-woman event on 23–24 February 2010 and the only one who did not feel safe on the track was Erin Pac of the United States. Following a meeting with 11 team captains, practice runs were postponed by the FIBT until later that day to adjust the shape of turn 11 so it would be easier for sleds to get through the rest of the track without crashing. Australia withdrew its four-man team on 23 February 2010 after two of its crew members suffered concussions from crashes sustained during track practice. Minichiello and Cooke decided not to start the final run. Before this incident, Martini had never crashed before in her career. Lange had the fastest practice times in the four-man event on the 24th with the final two practices taking place on the 25th. For the four-man event's first two runs on 26 February, defending world champion Holcomb recorded the fastest track times in both runs while defending Olympic champion Lange had the fastest start times. Russia-2 driven by Alexandr Zubkov, the defending four-man silver medalist and bronze medalist in the two-man event at these Games, crashed out in the first run when one of his steering ropes broke. America's team of Holcomb, Steve Mesler, Curtis Tomasevicz, and Justin Olsen won the event. ==Overall safety concerns==

Kumaritashvili's death raised concerns about athlete safety at the Winter Olympics. As of 21 February 2010, there were 30 crashes in bobsleigh and luge at the Sliding Centre. FIBT President Storey wanted to wait to review safety of bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton until after the 2010 Games, stating that track designers needed to find a balance between challenges and dangers on the track. This report was prepared by Romstad and Claire DelNegro, FIL Vice-President Sport Artificial Track. Documents released in February 2011 showed that the speed of the course was a concern for several years before Kumaritashvili's death. ==Track technical details==

Construction This venue was constructed on a First Nations designated site. According to the Squamish, the area is referred to as a "Wild Spirit Place" or Kwekwayex Kwelh7aynexw while the Lil'oet call the area A7x7ulmecw or "Spirited Ground". It represents the beating of the Thunderbird's huge wings filled with thunder in the air. Originally budgeted for C$55 million, the track's actual costs were C$105 million (€68 million). It seated 11,650 spectators during the 2010 Games. Sustainability To promote sustainability, the site was selected directly adjacent to an already used part of a major ski area. It was also designed to minimize vegetation and the ecological footprint in the area. For energy efficiency, trees were retained to cast shade with weather protection and a shading system used to cover parts of the track. The track itself is painted white to maintain low temperatures while minimizing energy demand on the refrigeration system. Waste heat from the refrigeration plant is captured and reused to heat buildings on-site, and could provide other heat uses in the future. Any wood waste created from site clearing activities during venue construction was composted for reuse. Other on-site buildings also followed similar green building design principles. Awards In 2008, the Sliding Centre received two British Columbia Ready-Mixed Concrete Association Awards for Excellence in Concrete Construction. The first award was for Public Works while the second one was for the Century Award. On 22 August 2006, VANOC targeted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Canada by applying for "silver" green building certification for the refrigeration plant building. The refrigeration plant received "gold" certification level on 2 February 2010. Characteristics Turn names for 4–6 and 8 were not given. Track g-forces were expected to reach up to 5.02 for men's singles luge. Maximum speed was reached at in four-man bobsleigh during the certification process. ==Track records==

The luge track records shown were set at the men's singles start house and women's singles/men's doubles start houses during the World Cup competition in February 2009. After Kumaritashvili's death on 12 February 2010, the competition for men's singles was moved to the women's singles/men's doubles start house while the competition for women's singles/ men's doubles was moved to the junior start house. The fastest runs set during the 2010 Winter Olympics are not on this list until an issue between the Whistler 2010 Sports Legacies and the FIL is resolved. ==References==