Kaillie Humphries, of United States, drives during the Women’s Monobob heat 1 at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 13, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing, China.
We haven’t even gotten to Paris yet and we are already seeing massive innovation in other parts of Europe as the continent begins to prepare for its stint hosting the Olympics.
The Summer Olympics will take place in Paris in 2024, while the Winter Olympics will follow two short years later and take place in Italy, specifically Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. And right now, all hands are on deck in the two European destinations. Stadiums, arenas, fields, ice rinks and sliding tracks are just a few crucial elements that must be devised before the torches are lit come the Games.
On Italy’s side of things, there is a bit of difficulty with the creation of the sliding track because of its costly renovation. The home of sliding events at Milano Cortina will actually be the same location where the events were held previously when the country hosted back in 1956.
The Eugenio Monti sliding track is now expected to cost $82.5 million USD, which comes out to €80 million or £70 million. This number is almost double the original price which sat at about $43 million.
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As a result, Venet Governor Luca Zaia says he is open to other options. He blames the invasion of Ukraine, saying the ongoing fiasco has resulted in inflation and therefore raised prices.
“Out of a sense of responsibility, I feel the duty to represent how the current geopolitical situation and the ongoing crisis have led to the exponential increase in raw materials in some cases and this means a substantial increase in costs also for the bobsleigh track," said Zaia, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano, in regard to the cost of the sliding track that will hold bobsleigh, luge and skeleton at the 2026 Games.
"These are new elements that need to be evaluated if they lead to different conclusions in line with the aforementioned Olympic Agenda 2020."
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Zaia claims he is willing to use the Innsbruck track in Austria, which neighbors Milano Cortina if the renovation is truly out of the cards.
"I believe that there is still, albeit for a short time, the time to present to the new government structure all the elements necessary to be able to confirm or modify the choice of the redevelopment intervention of the Eugenio Monti bobsleigh track in Cortina d'Ampezzo, or to evaluate other possible solutions, including the many times dreaded track in Innsbruck," Zaia added.
Despite the ambiguity regarding the sliding track renovation, Milano Cortina took a big step forward in the progress of the 2026 Games with the appointment of a new chief executive, Andrea Varnier.
