Olympic Sliding Centre

The Olympic Sliding Centre (올림픽 슬라이딩 센터) is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track that is located in Daegwallyeong, Pyeongchang, South Korea.[1] The centre is located between the Alpensia and Yongpyong Resort. The venue is one of only two operating sliding facilities in Asia, along with the Spiral in Japan.

Olympic Sliding Centre
올림픽 슬라이딩 센터
View of the track
LocationDaegwallyeong, South Korea
Coordinates37°39′13″N 128°40′53″E
CapacityTotal: 7,000
Seated: 1,000
Standing: 6,000
Construction
Broke groundMarch 4, 2014
Construction cost₩ 122.8 billion
Main contractorsDaelim Inc
Website
Track Website
For the similarly named track near Innsbruck, see Olympic Sliding Centre Innsbruck.

It was renamed from Alpensia Sliding Centre to Olympic Sliding Centre in June 2017.[2]

Championships hosted

Track technical details

Construction

The venue was built by Daelim under the responsibility of the Gangwon Province.[3] The construction cost ₩122.8 billion (about US$114.5 million), to be shared between the country and the regional authorities: National Government ₩92.1 billion, Local Government ₩30.7 billion.[4]

The construction of the Alpensia Sliding Centre started in March 2014 and was completed in the final months of 2017.[5]

Characteristics

It occupies a surface of 177,000 square metres (44 acres), and has a range in altitude from 940 m (3,080 ft) above sea level at the top of the track down to 800 metres (2,600 ft) above sea level at finish line.[6] The track itself is 2,018 metres (6,621 ft) long (to commemorate the Olympics), and is 1.40 metres (4.6 ft) wide.[3][6] The venue can also hold 7,000 attendants, with 1,000 seats and standing room for the remaining 6,000.[1]

2018 Winter Olympics

During coverage of the Games on NBC Sports in the United States, the track was referred to as "The House of Speed" while turns 9-12 were referred to as "Run Breaker" for the fact they slowed down the sleds so much that it costs sliders positions, including medals. The best known example was Germany's Felix Loch who was leading after three runs in the luge men's singles event only to have problems during the final run through "Run Breaker", causing the two-time defending Olympic champion to finish 5th.

Turn 2 was named 'Soju' by sliders, after the local Korean liquor, because "it messes you up."

During the Games, the Turn 9-10-11 sequence was christened the name "The Dragon's Tail". Tweak the Dragon's Tail and you'll pay the price. Other Dragon-based names appeared in the Downhill and Slalom courses, reflecting the importance of the Dragon in Korean mythology.

Turn 14 was named The Olympic Curve - inspired by the PyeongChang 2018 logo, set in the ice.

Track Records
Track records
Event Record Athlete(s) Date Time (s) Ref
Bobsleigh Two-man Start  Francesco Friedrich & Thorsten Margis (GER) 18 February 2018 4.85 [7]
Track  Francesco Friedrich & Thorsten Margis (GER) 19 February 2018 48.96 [7]
Four-man Start  Justin Kripps, Jesse Lumsden, Alexander Kopacz & Oluseyi Smith (CAN) 25 February 2018 4.80 [8]
Track  Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp & Thorsten Margis (GER) 24 February 2018 48.54 [8]
Two-woman Start  Elana Meyers Taylor & Lauren Gibbs (USA) 20 February 2018 5.21 [9]
Track  Elana Meyers Taylor & Lauren Gibbs (USA) 21 February 2018 50.46 [9]
Skeleton Men's Start  Yun Sung-bin (KOR) 15 February 2018 4.59 [10]
Track  Yun Sung-bin (KOR) 16 February 2018 50.02 [10]
Women's Start  Elena Nikitina (RUS) 17 March 2017 4.92 [11]
Track  Lizzy Yarnold (GBR) 17 February 2018 51.46 [11]
Luge Men's Singles Start  Tucker West (USA) 10 February 2018 2.545 [12]
Track  Dominik Fischnaller (ITA) 11 February 2018 47.475 [12]
Women's Singles Start  Tatjana Hüfner (GER) 12 February 2018 4.302 [13]
Track  Summer Britcher (USA) 12 February 2018 46.132 [13]
Men's Doubles Start  Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt (GER) 14 February 2018 4.174 [14]
Track  Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt (GER) 14 February 2018 45.820 [14]

References
  1. "Olympic Sliding Centre | Venues | PyeongChang 2018 | The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games". 2018-02-10. Archived from the original on 2018-02-10. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
  2. "'알펜시아 슬라이딩 센터→올림픽 슬라이딩 센터' 명칭 변경" (in Korean). SBS. 27 June 2017.
  3. "Read - | DAELIM |". 2017-12-08. Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
  4. The Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Olympic Sliding Center for the Success of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018 Archived 2018-01-27 at the Wayback Machine - SportsFeatures.com - March 10, 2014
  5. Groundbreaking Ceremony held for PyeongChang 2018 Sliding Centre - International Olympic Committee - March 11, 2014
  6. "Olympic Sliding Centre : PyeongChang 2018 Venue". 2017-12-09. Archived from the original on 2017-12-09. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
  7. "2018 Winter Olympics two-man bobsleigh official results" (PDF). IBSF. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  8. "2018 Winter Olympics four-man bobsleigh official results" (PDF). IBSF. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  9. "2018 Winter Olympics two-women bobsleigh official results" (PDF). IBSF. 25 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  10. "2018 Winter Olympics men skeleton official results" (PDF). IBSF. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  11. "2018 Winter Olympics women skeleton official results" (PDF). IBSF. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  12. "2018 Winter Olympics men's single luge official results" (PDF). FIL. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  13. "2018 Winter Olympics women's single luge official results" (PDF). FIL. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  14. "2018 Winter Olympics men's double luge official results" (PDF). FIL. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.

37°39′13″N 128°40′53″E

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