Bobsleigh

In bobsleigh a crew of two or four push a heavy sled at a sprint, jump in and race down a twisting ice track, with the pilot steering. Women also compete in the single-person monobob. Speeds reach 150 km/h.

History

Bobsleigh was born at the Swiss resort of St. Moritz in the late nineteenth century. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) was founded in 1923. Bobsleigh has been on the programme since the first Winter Olympics in 1924; women have competed since 2002 and in monobob since 2022.

Major competitions

The Olympic Games, the IBSF World Championships and the World Cup.

In the Turkic world

Because the Turkic countries have no purpose-built ice track, bobsleigh is still little practised there. A bobsleigh crew needs powerful sprinters — for Turkic countries with strong athletics and weightlifting traditions it could be a sport of the future.