This year's bobsled and skeleton world championships are in Lake Placid—a huge advantage for Team USA, and mayyyyyybe a preview of next year's Olympics?
TIL Bobsled and Skeleton are the same international organization but Luge is separate. I would've 100% assumed Skeleton and Luge were together and Bobsled was on it's own.
My assumption is the luge federation and the bobsled federation both existed for decades and then had a protracted battle in Swiss court about who got to add skeleton when skeleton got invented
Just made plans to be up at the event on Saturday. Have never been to Lake Placid, let alone a bobsled event. Any tactical advice or insider tips? Worth it to get there very early? Any parking issues? I'll be travelling solo.
Awesome thx! This is really helpful. Should I be expecting big crowds/uptight vibes or is this more low-key? Apologies if this is a dumb question but I have no context.
It won't be a huge crowd, bigger than this past weekend, but you'll have no problem getting around or whatever. It's super clear where you can/can't be, so it's not that stuffy of an atmosphere either.
Make sure to go to the lodge at some point, that's where you can get t-shirts/cowbells/etc and also the food there is usually pretty good. There's also a big tent thing in Heart (the 17/18/19 complex) that's got music and some stuff going on
- They've moved the race up a day, so it's Friday-Saturday, which means you'll be here for medals. It's going to be really warm Friday-Sunday, so they're trying to do things early to keep the track in tip-top shape.
- Races are at 8:00 AM / 9:45 AM for the men, 1:00 PM / 2:30 PM for the women
- Parking is super easy, tickets are super easy, when you get there it's pretty straight forward.
- My suggestion would be to do the first heat up top at the start, but you'll want to make sure you get here in time to get up to the top, it's a bit of a hike
- Final run is the medals, I'd watch that from the finish area. Because it's going to be warm, a good number of the shades will be down to try to keep the ice icy, so that may be your best spot.
- Stick around for the medal ceremony (probably around 4:30 PM?), all of the athletes will be around
- If you're staying the night in Lake Placid, make sure you give yourself some time Sunday to do the gondola up to the top of the ski jumps. The view is breathtaking.
Rodger, how do you find out about all these obscure sports championships? They seem like a lot of fun to attend but the first I hear about them is usually from you after they've already started. Is there any chance you could start including a section in your weekly newsletter on upcoming scheduled events like this, maybe a few months out?
On our podcast, we have been calling it the "sliding-novella" because the story feels like a Mexican telenovela with all the twists and turns and personalities. The Italian side of me absolutely wants Cortina to pull this off. On the other hand, and for my American side, it would be amazing for US sliders to be in Lake Placid. Might even be a big boost for the program and get more financial supports for Team USA bobsled.
TIL Bobsled and Skeleton are the same international organization but Luge is separate. I would've 100% assumed Skeleton and Luge were together and Bobsled was on it's own.
My assumption is the luge federation and the bobsled federation both existed for decades and then had a protracted battle in Swiss court about who got to add skeleton when skeleton got invented
Yeah, I guess the Skeleton origin story I had in my head was a couple Luge dudes "invented" it by messing around going headfirst in practice.
Just made plans to be up at the event on Saturday. Have never been to Lake Placid, let alone a bobsled event. Any tactical advice or insider tips? Worth it to get there very early? Any parking issues? I'll be travelling solo.
I have no tips for you, im gonna make sure Ken sees this!
Awesome thx! This is really helpful. Should I be expecting big crowds/uptight vibes or is this more low-key? Apologies if this is a dumb question but I have no context.
It won't be a huge crowd, bigger than this past weekend, but you'll have no problem getting around or whatever. It's super clear where you can/can't be, so it's not that stuffy of an atmosphere either.
Make sure to go to the lodge at some point, that's where you can get t-shirts/cowbells/etc and also the food there is usually pretty good. There's also a big tent thing in Heart (the 17/18/19 complex) that's got music and some stuff going on
Graham! Heck yeah man. Here's the quick rundown:
- They've moved the race up a day, so it's Friday-Saturday, which means you'll be here for medals. It's going to be really warm Friday-Sunday, so they're trying to do things early to keep the track in tip-top shape.
- Races are at 8:00 AM / 9:45 AM for the men, 1:00 PM / 2:30 PM for the women
- Parking is super easy, tickets are super easy, when you get there it's pretty straight forward.
- My suggestion would be to do the first heat up top at the start, but you'll want to make sure you get here in time to get up to the top, it's a bit of a hike
- Final run is the medals, I'd watch that from the finish area. Because it's going to be warm, a good number of the shades will be down to try to keep the ice icy, so that may be your best spot.
- Stick around for the medal ceremony (probably around 4:30 PM?), all of the athletes will be around
- If you're staying the night in Lake Placid, make sure you give yourself some time Sunday to do the gondola up to the top of the ski jumps. The view is breathtaking.
Rodger, how do you find out about all these obscure sports championships? They seem like a lot of fun to attend but the first I hear about them is usually from you after they've already started. Is there any chance you could start including a section in your weekly newsletter on upcoming scheduled events like this, maybe a few months out?
There’s been some demand for that, I’ll find a way to do it
On our podcast, we have been calling it the "sliding-novella" because the story feels like a Mexican telenovela with all the twists and turns and personalities. The Italian side of me absolutely wants Cortina to pull this off. On the other hand, and for my American side, it would be amazing for US sliders to be in Lake Placid. Might even be a big boost for the program and get more financial supports for Team USA bobsled.
Sounds like a podcast I need to listen to, subscribed!