Altenberg racing sled and bobsled run
| Altenberg racing sled and bobsled run | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plan of the train | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| place |
 Altenberg , Saxony
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| owner | LRA Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| operator | Wintersport Altenberg (Osterzgebirge) GmbH | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Installation | Fall 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 56 ″ N , 13 ° 43 ′ 21 ″ E
The Altenberg racing sledge and bobsleigh track (from 2012 to 2018 DKB-Eiskanal , since 2018 ENSO-Eiskanal ) is an artificial ice rink for bobsleigh , skeleton and luge sports in Germany . The track with a total length of 1413 m has 17 competition curves - one of which is a roundabout: the 320 ° curve 10. The slight change of direction in the finish area after the end time light barrier that occurred in 2007 in the course of the change in the run-out is not part of the competition curves. A speed of approx. 140 km / h can be achieved on the track.
location
It is located in the Saxon Eastern Ore Mountains in Kohlgrund on a northeast slope in the immediate vicinity of the village of Hirschsprung , about 5 kilometers from Altenberg .
history
After the Politburo of the SED had decided to build the bobsleigh run in 1980, construction work began in 1982 under the greatest of secrecy. They were under the supervision of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) , which was responsible for the railway even after the completion of the railway until the dissolution of the MfS in 1989.
With the construction of the bobsleigh run, the GDR was to receive an FIBT -certified and therefore internationally competitive bobsleigh run. The only other toboggan run in the state, Oberhof , did not meet this criterion, could only be used by two-man bobsleighs and was in need of renovation. At the same time, the Altenberg bobsleigh run was planned as the most technically demanding bobsleigh run in the world in order to guarantee the successful GDR bobsleigh athletes optimal preparation conditions for international competitions.
The planning was carried out by the Scientific and Technical Center for Sports Buildings (WTZ) in Leipzig , the structural implementation was the responsibility of the Construction and Assembly Combine Coal and Energy Dresden and the refrigeration technology came from VEB Maschinenfabrik Halle.
The first in autumn 1983 a. a. However, test drives carried out by Wolfgang Hoppe and Dietmar Schauerhammer showed that the bobsleigh run was too difficult to build and that even world-class riders of the time were mentally impassable. There were several falls of test riders and Hoppe judged the track as "... not to be controlled ...".
But who is to blame for the incorrect design? Was it sabotage from the west ...? Due to a lack of own experience, the GDR had bought a large part of the design documents with a computer model of the Oberhofer Bahn from the West German engineering office Deyle from Stuttgart. But the West engineers were not wanted on the Altenberger Bahn itself. The fact is: the designers now only have to recalculate the entire project. "
Stasi chief Erich Mielke issued the order with confidential information from May 7, 1984,
- in winter 1984/85 a use for training purposes,
- in the winter of 1985/86 full use of the entire track for training purposes and competitions on a GDR scale and
- from winter 1987 to enable the use for international competitions, as well
- To create the necessary material-technical prerequisites for the bobsleigh and racing sled sections of SG Dynamo Zinnwald in the period 1986/90.
As a result, the railway was almost completely rebuilt and defused from 1984 to 1986. Of the 17 curves on the track, 10 were blown up and completely redesigned, another 6 curves were partially corrected. The documents available show that the construction costs, which were originally calculated at around 150 to 160 million GDR marks , would increase drastically as a result of the inevitable changes. Experts estimate that in the end the GDR spent a total of up to 350 million marks on this prestige object.
On the second weekend in March of 1986, the GDR championships in the two-man bobsleigh, the first official competition still took place under construction site conditions. After the GDR's second artificial ice rink was handed over to Oberhof , the international premiere followed at the end of November with the three-lane tour as a prelude to the 1986/87 luge season.
The official inauguration event and certification by the international trade associations FIBT and FIL took place in 1987.
In 1991, the state government of Saxony transferred responsibility for the railway to the city of Altenberg, which hosted the FIBT World Championships for the first time in the same year . 1996 Luge World Championships were held for the first time and in 1998 the Skeleton World Championships .
For the second time the bobsleigh world championship took place in Altenberg in 2000. Around 20,000 visitors attended the event. In 2007 the bobsleigh track for the bobsleigh and skeleton world championships was renewed for 4.1 million euros the following year. a. the run-out zone expanded. The Weißeritzkreis became the owner of the railway and Wintersport Altenberg (Osterzgebirge) GmbH was founded.
To Bob and Skeleton World Cup 2008 about 30,000 visitors to the railway and 18 million TV viewers were in Germany and 210 million worldwide watched the race. The 2012 Luge World Championships took place in Altenberg.
Before the Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup in 2012, the Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB) secured the naming rights to the Altenberger Bahn for around 100,000 euros a year. In the current 2011/12 season, racing sled and bobsleigh track Altenberg (RSBB) was renamed to DKB-Eiskanal . ' In December 2017 it became known that the DKB is withdrawing from the winter sports sector as a sponsor. The contract on the naming rights of the DKB-Eiskanal, which expires in mid-2018, will therefore not be extended. On October 29, 2018 it was announced that the energy supplier ENSO Energie Sachsen Ost will become the main sponsor and name sponsor of the Altenberg sled and bobsled run at the start of the 2018/19 season. The concluded contract is valid for four years.
Today the Altenberg bobsleigh and racing sled run is considered the most difficult and dangerous in the world , alongside the 2010 Olympic track in Whistler (British Columbia) . In 2019, curves 11-13 should be rebuilt in preparation for the 2020 Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships . The planned renovation could not be realized due to a lack of funding. On May 29, 2019, a renewed application for funding from the federal government and the Free State of Saxony was made due to the investment amount that has meanwhile increased to 3,622,100 euros, which - as of February 10, 2020 - has not yet been decided. Since the necessary planning and the tender can only be carried out after a positive decision, the start of the renovation can be expected in summer 2020 at the earliest.
The former bobsleigh athlete Matthias Benesch has been managing director of the operating company Wintersport Altenberg GmbH since October 2007 . In September 2018 it was announced that Benesch would move to the top of the Luge, Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association of Saxony at the end of the 2018/19 season and for this reason had asked the shareholders to be dismissed as managing director. The district council of the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district approved this request. Jens Morgenstern took over the management on June 1, 2019 .
Curves 3–5 (Omega)
Curve 10 (roundabout)
Turns 15-17 (target gyro)
Events
as spherical panorama
Luge , bobsleigh and skeleton sleds have been hosting world cup races on the bobsleigh run for years . In 1996 and 2012 the world championships, 2002 and 2016 the European championships in luge were held on the track . In bobsleigh, the world championships in 1991 , 2000 and 2008 as well as the European championships in 1995 , 2005 and 2012 took place on the Altenberger Bahn, in skeleton in 1994 , 1999 and 2008 world championships, 2004 , 2005 and 2012 European championships. Most recently, the 2020 Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships were held from February 17 to March 1, 2020 - for the first time with the newly introduced Skeleton Mixed Team competition.
Records
Starting records
| Two-man bobsleigh men | 4-man bobsleigh men | Two-man bobsleigh women |
|---|---|---|
| 5.11 s - January 6, 2018 | 5.01s - February 29, 2020 | 5.54s - January 6, 2018 |
| Skeleton men | Skeleton women | Toboggan men | Toboggan women | Toboggan double |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.86 s - November 28, 2015 | 5.24s - March 1, 2020 | 7,040s - February 21, 2015 | 5.451s - December 3, 2017 | 5,682s - February 13, 2016 |
Track records
| Two-man bobsleigh men | 4-man bobsleigh men | Two-man bobsleigh women |
|---|---|---|
| 54.00 s - February 22, 2020 | 53.17s - February 24, 2008 | 56.22s - January 6, 2018 |
| Skeleton men | Skeleton women | Toboggan men | Toboggan women | Toboggan double |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55.86 s - February 27, 2020 | 57.77s - February 29, 2020 | 53,452s - February 25, 2017 | 52,036s - December 3, 2017 | 41,388s - February 13, 2016 |
| Skeleton Mixed Team | Toboggan team relay | Luge sprint men | Luge sprint women | Luge sprint doubles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: 55.390 m - March 1st, 2020 | 2: 22.517 m - January 12, 2020 | 32,862s - February 22, 2015 | 37,751s - February 22, 2015 | 27,790s - February 22, 2015 |
literature
- Udo Gurgel : The Altenberg bobsleigh and toboggan run. ( Memento of August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: Sportmuseum aktuell , 2001, no. 1, p. 7.
Movies
- Mielke's dream - the Altenberg bobsleigh run. [Long version of Formula 1 in the Eiskanal .] Documentary, Germany, 2016, 43:44 min., Script and director: Gerd Gerlach, production: Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk , first broadcast: January 17th, 2017 on MDR, summary by ARD. - The video is currently not available on the public broadcasters.
- Formula 1 in the ice channel - the history of the Altenberg bobsleigh run. Documentary, Germany, 2015, 29:38 Min, written and directed by Gerd Gerlach, Row:. The East - Discover where you live , production: Central German Broadcasting, first broadcast: November 24, 2015 at MDR, Summary of tv.de. - The video is currently not available on the public broadcasters.
Web links
- Altenberg racing sled and bobsled run at Wintersport Altenberg
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.altenberg.de/saechsische-schweiz-osterzgebirge/ Landratsamt Sächsische Schweiz Osterzgebirge
- ↑ a b RSBB becomes ENSO ice canal. In: wia-altenberg.de. Wintersport Altenberg GmbH, October 29, 2018, accessed on November 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Ralf Pulla: Cold War in the Ice Channel. The development of bobsleds in the GDR . In: Uwe Fraunholz, Sylvia Wölfel (Hrsg.): Engineers in the technocratic ultra-modern. Cottbus studies on the history of technology, work and the environment . tape 40 . Waxmann-Verlag, Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-8309-2771-6 , pp. 299 .
- ↑ Uwe card: Secret demolition. (PDF; 323 kB) In: Website of the DKB-Eiskanals Altenberg. Sächsische Zeitung , October 5, 2015, accessed on November 27, 2015 .
- ^ Deyle design office, Stuttgart
- ↑ Mielke's dream - the Altenberg bobsleigh run . Documentary film, MDR, January 17, 2017.
- ^ Title fight premiere of the Bobs in the Eastern Ore Mountains. In: Neues Deutschland , March 10, 1986, p. 8, beginning of the article.
- ↑ Host dominated on the new track. In: Neues Deutschland , December 1, 1986, p. 8, beginning of the article.
- ^ Wintersport Altenberg (Osterzgebirge) GmbH: RSBB becomes DKB ice canal. ( Memento from August 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from December 29, 2011, ( PDF; 150 kB).
- ↑ Skiarena Oberhof in future without DKB in the name. (No longer available online.) In: MDR Thüringen. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, December 23, 2017, archived from the original on January 14, 2018 ; accessed on June 3, 2018 .
- ^ Astrid Hofmann: New name for bobsleigh run in Altenberg. In: dnn.de. Dresdner Latest News, October 30, 2018, accessed on November 2, 2018 .
- ^ Andreas Rüttenauer: Health risk bobsleigh. In: taz . January 6, 2012, accessed November 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Robert Dunker: The most difficult bobsled run in the world. In: Die Welt , February 22, 2008.
- ^ Sid / dpa / sip: Andre Lange fears fastest bobsleigh track in the world. In: Die Welt , February 13, 2010.
- ↑ The railway in Altenberg will be rebuilt in 2019
- ^ Conversion of the ice channel after the 2020 World Cup in Altenberg
- ↑ Astrid Hofmann: Benesch changes to the association. In: dnn.de. Dresdner Latest News, September 20, 2018, accessed on October 12, 2018 .
- ↑ Uta Schirmer: Change of managing director at Wintersport Altenberg GmbH - Jens Morgenstern will take over from Matthias Benesch on June 1, 2019. In: wia-altenberg.de. Wintersport Altenberg GmbH, June 1, 2019, accessed on June 3, 2019 .