In the beginning, bobsleigh was mainly a sport for the wealthy and adventurous, who met in the winter resorts of the Alps for competitions and parties.

But that changed quickly. Over time, bobsleigh developed into an organised discipline. The rapid speed and breathtaking curves soon captivated many spectators.

Although the sled has been around for centuries as a mode of transportation, the sport of bobsleigh didn't begin until the late 19th century when the Swiss attached a steering mechanism to a toboggan.

1897 1923 1950 1952 1970 1980 1990 2003 Today

1897

In 1897, the world's first bobsleigh club was founded in St. Moritz, Switzerland, spurring the growth of the sport in winter resorts throughout Europe. By 1914, bobsled races were taking place on a wide variety of natural ice courses.

The first racing sleds were made of wood but were soon replaced by steel sleds that came to be known as bobsleds, so named because of the way crews bobbed back and forth to increase their speed on the straightaways.

1923

In 1923, the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF), originally Fédération internationale de bobsleigh et de tobogganing (FIBT) was founded and the following year a four-man race took place at the first ever Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France. A two-man event was added at the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, U.S.A., a format that has remained to the present.

Bobsled racing began largely as an activity for the rich and adventurous who gathered at alpine resorts for weekends of competition and partying.

There was no such thing as training. Competitors simply bought or rented a sled, started out as a rider and then took the wheel after a few runs.

1950

By the 1950s, however, the sport as we know it today had begun to take shape. As the critical importance of the start was recognized, strong, fast athletes in other sports were drawn to bobsledding. Track and field competitors, handballers, gymnasts and others who could deliver a vigorous push at the start were much sought after.

1952

In 1952, a critical rule change limiting the total weight of crew and sled ended the era of the super heavyweight bobsledder and sealed the future of the sport as an athletic contest of the highest caliber.

More athletic crews went hand-in-hand with advances in sleds and tracks. Today, the world's top teams train year-round and compete mostly on artificial ice tracks in sleek high-tech sleds made of fiberglass and steel.

Until the advent of World Cup competition in the mid-1980s, bobsleigh success was determined solely by performance at the Olympics, World and European Championships. Since its inception, however, the World Cup series has added an exciting new dimension to the sport where versatility on different tracks and season-long consistency are rewarded.

Apart from the British influence in the sport's infancy, a strong U.S. presence from 1928 to 1956, and recent advances by other countries, bobsledding has been dominated largely by Europe's alpine nations over the years.

By far the most successful bobsledding nations have been Switzerland and Germany.

The Swiss have won more medals in Olympic, World and European championships and World Cup competitions than any other nation.

1970

German Democratic Republic emerged as the sport's major power in the mid 1970s with its emphasis on sled design and construction. Italy also has a long and successful track record in the sport, particularly from the mid 1950s to late 1960s, and Austria has had its shining moments.

In World Cup competition the Swiss and Germans have won the most medals, followed closely by Canadian teams.

From the small core of alpine nations who originally embraced bobsledding, the sport has since expanded around the world to include countries such as Jamaica, Chinese Taipei, Russia (USSR), Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

1980

USSR became an affiliated member in 1980 and a Delegate of the Russian Federation attended the FIBT Congress held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in 1981 for the first time.

At this Congress it was decided that the Executive Committee may initiate anti-doping controls at World and European Championships in accordance with the IOC Anti-Doping Rules.

1990

Another stage in the evolution of the sport came in the early 1990s with the debut of women bobsledders at events in Europe and North America. In October, 1999, the International Olympic Committee added women’s bobsleigh, and men’s and women’s skeleton as full medal sports for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, U.S.A.

With regard to the construction of bobsleds it was decided at the 1983 Congress in Lake Placid to ask the Technical Committee to propose regulations which have the objective to standardize the construction of the bobsled frame, in order to limit the costs for the construction of a bobsled and to submit the proposal to the next 1984 Congress for its final approval.

The 1984 Congress, held in Calgary approved the proposed regulations having the objective to standardize the construction of the frame.

2003

At the 2003 Congress held in Leipzig, Germany, a report about the runners, their costs, the possibility that they can be treated in order to increase their sliding on the ice, the difficulty and the high costs to control all runners before a competition, was submitted by the Sport Department.

The Congress decided to approve the proposal of the IBSF Executive Committee that all runners (both for bobsleds and skeleton sleds) have to be manufactured with a standard steel, delivered by the IBSF. Doing so, the cost of runners would not be expensive and their control would be reliable and it would be easier for material controllers to find out the treatment of runners with forbidden processes.

Today

The sport of bobsleigh continued to expand. Lake Placid, a longstanding venue for bobsleigh competitions, embraced progress by constructing a challenging combined track in the 1999-2000 season. For the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Cesana, Italy, a new venue was added in Cesana and for the 2010 Games in Vancouver/Whistler, Canada. The Sliding Center 'Sanki' in Sochi, Russia, purpose-built for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014, successfully hosted the bobsleigh competitions.

In the winter of 2018, the global sliding community celebrated the inauguration of a new track in PyeongChang, South Korea. Fast forward four years, and the Olympic flame illuminated Asia once again. From February 4th to 20th, 2022, China proudly welcomed the 24th Olympic Winter Games. Notably, a cutting-edge artificial ice track was meticulously constructed in Yanqing to serve as the venue for the bobsleigh and skeleton competitions. The 2022 Games marked a historic moment as Olympic medals were awarded in the discipline of Women's Monobob for the very first time.

Bobsleigh at a glance

Bobsleigh is a team sport in which crews of either 2 of 4 people push and drive down an ice track with the fastest team making it to the finish line crowned the winners. At the start teams push the sled as fast as they can and then load into the bobsleigh in quick succession; it takes balance and agility to coordinate loading up to 4 powerful athletes into a sled whilst pushing at maximum
velocity.

After the start the pilot takes over the steering and negotiates the bobsleigh through a sequence of tricky turns reaching speeds of up to 150 kmh. When the bobsleigh reaches the finish line, the brake person slows the sled down to a stop.

BOBSCHLITTEN

Push Bar

Side Handle

Rear handle

At IBSF competitions the athletes generally compete in 2-man and 4-man sleds. Today also Monobob sleds are being used for Para bobsleigh, Women's Monobob and the OMEGA IBSF Youth Monobob Series. The structure of all bobsleds is almost the same: steel frame, berglass body, mobile front runners and sled rear runners, folding and sled handles for pushing, steel brakes and control system (D-rings).

*approx. measurements: the range for the total length is described in the rules 

150 km/h
Speed of the "loaded" 4-man Bobsled

Until the weight-limit rule was added in 1952, bobsleigh crews tended to be very heavy to ensure the greatest possible speed.

Now, the maximum weight, including crew, is 630 kilograms (4-man), 390 kilograms (2-man), or 330 kilograms (2-woman), which can be reached via the addition of metal weights.

The Sled 

The high tech Sled is a combination of steel and either berglass or carbon bre. Modern day bobsleighs combine light metals, steel runners, and an aerodynamic composite body.

MONOBOB

Monobob is based on the traditional ice sport of Bobsleigh but uses only 1 person to push, drive and brake the sled. The Youth Olympic games in Lillehammer have been the first official event held using the mono bob. At around 2.80m in length and weighing around 160kg it still allows the Youth pilot to experience the full thrills of Bobsleigh reaching speeds in excess of 120kmh and experiencing a gravitational force of up to 3G’s and compared to 2-men or 4-man the athlete won’t rely on their team mates for performance.

START AND SLED CONTROL ON THE TRACK

Generally, it takes a team less than 6 seconds to start, meaning that the athletes are pushing the sled first, jump into it and manage to pass the first 50m interval within that time. If at the very beginning, the team already has a worse start than the current leader, even if it is just hundreds of a second, this difference might critically grow at the finish. As a rule of thumb, a 1/10th of a second lead at the start translates into a 2/10ths of a second advantage at the bottom of the course.

The first who jumps in the sled is the pilot, then two pushers and the last one is the brakeman (4-man). After they get into the sled the athletes bend for better aerodynamics. The pilot controls the sled using the D-rings. In order to make right or left turn the pilot pulls the corresponding ring. The most important after the start is to keep the balance and choose the best trajectories. The rest will be done by two forces: gravity and momentum. If the sled goes to high, the distance will increase and the team will lose time. If the sled goes too low, the centrifugal force, which helps the sled to pass the tough curves, will weaken. But in most of the cases the winners usually come just hundreds of a second ahead of the second-best team.