In late March, sliding athletes from around the world conducted initial tests on a sliding track that Italian officials are building for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Lake Placid sliding venues have been designated the backup site for the bobsled, skeleton and luge events if the track in Cortina, Italy is not completed. Following test runs, the consensus now is that it will be ready to host Olympic sliders. Officials in Lake Placid say they remain ready to serve as the backup just in case.
In March, USA Luge women’s doubles athletes Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby joined 58 sliders from across the world to conduct initial tests of the Cortina track. In a USA Luge video before they left, Forgan said she is excited to be among those testing the new track.
“I think it was such a huge honor that Lake Placid was chosen as the backup choice for the 2026 Olympics. But we are so excited to go to Cortina and try out the new track. It looks beautiful. We’re just very excited,” Forgan said.
USA Luge is based in Lake Placid. CEO and Executive Director Scott Riewald explains that this initial test is part of a series of checks on the track before full certification.
“The meaningfulness of the event that just happened, which they call the homologation, is really kind of putting the track through its first runs and evaluating it with regard to safety first and foremost. But also identifying challenges that may exist, giving them enough time between now and when the Olympic Games will be held to make any changes in order to have the facility running at topnotch when we get to the games,” explained Riewald. “So, it’s significant in that this is a necessary step in terms of having that track come on line as an official competition worthy venue before the Olympic Games in 2026.”
Last year the International Olympic Committee designated Lake Placid as the backup sliding site if the Cortina track was not certified in time. Mayor Art Devlin is pleased that the Cortina track is likely to be fully certified for the Olympics even if it means the Adirondack village won’t get its first taste of Olympic competition since 1980.
“We’ve all been hoping that Cortina was able to have their bobsled up and running just because it will make a much better experience for the athletes and for the spectators. And we’ve always been there as a backup in case they couldn’t do it. And I think this initial run and the people’s enthusiasm for it is going to go a long ways towards homologation, or coming into compliance,” Devlin said. ”I can remember back when our track first went in and they had an accident and things looked really bad but I don’t see any of that happening over there. So I think there’s a real good chance that things are going to work out for Cortina.”
Mayor Devlin acknowledges there is a bit of disappointment that Lake Placid may not host the 2026 Olympic sliding events.
“But I think that’s way outweighed by, you know, what are the Olympics for? And that is to bring countries together and athletes to talk with each other, realize there’s not a lot of difference between all of us and friendly competition. And to have the sliding events over here and everybody else over there, that just would have defeated the purpose of the whole Olympics. So I think from that standpoint it’s great that they’re possibly going to have their track open. I think we also have already benefited from all the publicity that we’ve gotten worldwide that we were named as a backup,” noted Devlin.
Riewald notes that Lake Placid remains Plan B as official certification of the Cortina track continues.
“The fact that they ran the certification, or the homologation, that’s a huge step in preparing the track for the games. But it’s not over until it’s over,” comments Riewald. “So I think it says a lot in how Lake Placid is viewed. It just further defines the place that Lake Placid has in the overall winter sports, Olympic and Paralympic landscape. Lake Placid is seen as a foundational part of the winter sport landscape.”
Further testing will occur on the Cortina track this fall with an event to assure all support systems are working properly and the track is safe. International training must also be conducted on the new track prior to Olympic competition.
