Oberhof bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track

The Oberhof bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track is a venue used for bobsled, luge and skeleton located in Oberhof, Germany.

Track map

History
East German stamp showing the Oberhof track used for the FIL World Luge Championships 1973.

Oberhof had been the home of sledding activities since 1905, mostly bobsleigh.[1] In 1931, the facility hosted the first ever FIBT World Championships in the two-man bobsleigh event won by the two-man German team of Hanns Killian and Sebastian Huber.[2] After World War II, Oberhof was partitioned into East Germany. Following the successes of the East Germans at the FIL World Luge Championships during the 1960s with Thomas Köhler (men's singles world champion in 1962 and 1967, men's doubles world champion in 1965 and 1967), Ilse Geisler (women's singles world champion in 1962 and 1963), Ortrun Enderlein (women's singles world champion in 1965 and 1967), Petra Tierlich (women's singles world champion in 1969, Wolfgang Scheidel (men's doubles world champion in 1965), and Klaus Bonsack (men's doubles world champion in 1967), the East German government decided it was time to construct a permanent, artificially refrigerated reinforced concrete track for year-round training and usage.[3][4][5] In 1966, East Germany was awarded the FIL World Luge Championships in Friedrichroda (misspelled as Friedrichsroda), but the event was cancelled.[6] The success of the first permanent bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Königssee, West Germany, completed in 1968 and first used for the world luge championships the following year, also played a factor.[7][8] In 1969, it was decided to construct a permanent facility in Oberhof.[9] The track was completed in 1971 with a World Cup test taking place the following year.[9] Since then the track has hosted World Cup events, mostly in luge though it has hosted events in bobsleigh (1974 in two-man) and skeleton (1993).[9]

Renovations

Oberhof has undergone four track renovations, the first in 1996 where it was closed from April to October for a total reconstruction, a second in 2002 when a new ammonia refrigeration system was installed and turn 14 was modified for safety reason, and a third in 2006 when new start houses were built for both men and women, and turn 7's profile was modified for safety reasons.[9] The cost of the 2016 renovation was €4 million.[10] The track was again renovated in 2020 with improvements to the roof [11] as well as redesign of many of the track curves and improvements to the starts and start houses. [12]

Statistics

Overall track length is 1354.5 meters.[13] The venue includes a vertical drop of 96.37 meters from start to finish.

Physical statistics
Sport Length (meters) Turns
Men's singles luge, men's skeleton, two-man bobsleigh[14] 1069.70 14
Women's luge and skeleton - women's singles and men's doubles[14] 945.60 11
Junior's luge and skeleton 665.40 7

The only named curves are the "S-Kombination" (German for "S Combination") which are turns eight through eleven and the "Zielkurve" (German for "Finish Curve") is turn fourteen, a Kreisel (or circular) curve.[13][14]

Track records
Sport Record Nation - athlete(s) Date Time (seconds)
Bobsleigh two-man[14] Track  East Germany - Wolfgang Hoppe & Bogdan Musioł 1988 44.62
Luge - men's singles[15] Start David Möller -  Germany 27 January 2008 8.199
Luge - men's singles[15] Track Felix Loch -  Germany 27 January 2008 44.996
Luge - women's singles[16] Start Natalie Geisenberger -  Germany 25 January 2008 7.995
Luge - women's singles[16] Track Tatjana Hüfner -  Germany 16 January 2010 42.920
Luge - men's doubles[17] Start  Germany - Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt 16 January 2010 7.755
Luge - men's doubles[17] Track  Germany - André Florschütz & Torsten Wustlich 16 January 2010 42.717

Championships hosted

References
  1. Track data of Oberhof luge and bobsleigh (in German)
  2. List of Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931 Archived May 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Men's singles luge world champions since 1955 Archived December 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Women's singles luge world champions since 1955 Archived December 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Men's doubles world luge champions since 1955 Archived December 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Luge and Olympism." Olympic Review. December 1983. p. 862.
  7. "Bobsleigh and Olympism". Olympic Review. December 1984. p. 1011.
  8. "Luge and Olympism". Olympic Review. December 1983. p. 853.
  9. History of the Oberhof track. (in German)
  10. World Championships entries: 21 nations - 42 men- 36 women - 24 doubles. at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (22 January 2008 article accessed 3 December 2009.
  11. "Modernisation of Oberhof bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track: ZÜBLIN Timber in charge of complex timber construction". Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  12. "Thüringer Wintersportzentrum Oberhof". wintersportzentrum-thueringen.de (in German). Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  13. BSD track profile (in German)
  14. Official website track data (in German)
  15. FIL Luge World Cup Oberhof 17 January 2010 men's singles results. - accessed 17 January 2010.
  16. FIL Luge World Cup Oberhof 16 January 2010 women's singles results. - accessed 16 January 2010.
  17. FIL Luge World Cup Oberhof 16 January 2010 men's doubles results. - accessed 16 January 2010.

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