Events: Bobsleigh, Luge, Skeleton

Venue Capacity: 12,000

Cost: $104,900,000

Status: New

Opened: December 31, 2007

Elevation: 938 metres (top); 786 metres (bottom)

Distance: 14km from Whistler Athletes Village.

The Whistler Sliding Centre will host all bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The sliding centre is located on Blackcomb Mountain just below the 7th Heaven ski area of the resort.

On November 15, 2004, VANOC announced that they had hired Stantec Architectural Limited, the designers of the 2002 Olympic sliding track, who would provide the detail design and site master plan of the Whistler Sliding Centre. Construction began on June 1, 2005, after the design had received environment approval from the Canadian Environment Assessment Act.

The sliding centre used:
• 350 metric tonnes of concrete
• 100km of ammonia refrigeration steel piping
• 700 lights
• 600 awnings
• 12,000m of steel conduit

The sliding centre course is 1,450 metres long, has an average grade of 11.6 per cent, a vertical drop of 152 metres, 16 corners and G-forces approaching five G's. For men's luge it will be shortened to 1,374 metres long, while for women's luge and doubles luge the course will be shortened even more to 1,198m and reduced to 14 corners. Ice thickness will be 2cm to 5cm. There will be 36 on-track video cameras and 42 "timing eyes".

The Whistler Sliding Centre was one of the venues which went over the original budget. At the time of the bid, VANOC had budgeted the Centre to cost $55 million. In June 2006, VANOC announced that it had underestimated the cost of construction and supplies for the Centre. The new budget was re-estimated to being closer to $100 million, and the governments of BC and Canada agreed to jointly fund the construction.

The first run took place on December 19, 2007 with Canadian bobsledder Pierre Lueders and his brakeman Justin Kripps. Public self-guided walking tours ran July 3 through August 31, 2008. Training took place throughout the fall of 2008, with the first World Cup competition taking place in February 2009.

After the Olympic Winter Games, the Whistler Sliding Centre will be operated under the direction of the Whistler Legacies Society, supported by the endowment trust established by the provincial and federal governments as part of the 2010 Games venues investment.

Figures

Length
Bobsleigh and skeleton: 1450m
Men's luge: 1374m
Doubles and women's luge: 1198m

Vertical Drop: 152m

Maximum track slope: 20% at 2 corners

Number of corners: 16

Construction started: June 2005

Track designer: Udo Gurgel (IBG Designs, Germany)
Venue architect: Stantec Architecture Inc.
Track construction contractor: Emil Anderson Construction (EAC) Inc.
Track buildings contractor: Heatherbrae Inc.
Track systems contractor: Western Pacific Enterprises GP
Track refrigeration contractor: Cimco Refrigeration