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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.
[edit] History
In 1967, Königssee hosted the European luge championships on a naturallly refrigerated track.[1] 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.[2] The first international competition took place the following year with the FIL World Luge Championships[3] 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).[4]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.).[5]).[6][7] Skeleton first competed in the late 1980s, hosting the world championships in 1990.[8] The track was part of Salzburg, Austria's unsuccessful bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics in 2007.[9]
[edit] Statistics
Physical statistics
| Sport[10] |
Length (meters) |
Turns |
Grade |
| Luge - men's singles |
1306 |
16 |
10.35% |
| Bobsleigh |
1240 |
13 |
9.30% |
| Skeleton |
1185 |
12 |
9.20% |
| Luge - women's singles & men's doubles |
1156 |
12 |
9.20% |
The track has a vertical drop of 117 meters from the bobsleigh perspective.
Turns
| Turn Number |
Name |
Reason named |
| 2., 3. |
Eiskapelle |
German for "Ice chapel" |
| 5., 6., 7., 8., 9. |
Schalangengrube/ S-Kombination |
German for "Snake pit"/ S-combination in (German) (Four turns in quick succession without a straight (labyrinth)) |
| 11. |
Turbodrom |
320-degree Kriesel (circular) curve. |
| 14. |
Echowand |
German for "Echo wall". |
| 15., 16. |
Zielhaus |
German for "Finish house". |
Turns 1, 4, 10, 12, and 13 have no names listed in the track diagram.[11]
[edit] Championships hosted
- FIBT World Championships: 1979, 1986[6], 1990 (men's skeleton)[8], 2004 (all bobsleigh and skeleton events)[6]
- FIL European Luge Championships: 1967 (As a natural track.), 1972, 1973, 1977, 1988, 1994[1]
- FIL World Luge Championships: 1969, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1999[7]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Germany
Italy
