New bobsled/skeleton push track opens at the Utah Olympic Park

Construction workers putting the final touches on the new Steve Holcomb Bobsled/Skeleton Push Track at the Utah Olympic Park Photo: Michele Roepke

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah. — The Bobsled and Skeleton Push Track dedicated to the memory of Steven Holcomb will open with the start of ice-making this weekend at the Utah Olympic Park. It’s an apropos association as he began his bobsled career as a push athlete then National Push Champion before winning his Olympic gold and two silver medals piloting bobsleds.  

Holcomb grew up in Park City, had a promising career ahead of him as an alpine ski racer, and attended the Winter Sports School and the University of Utah, also serving in the Utah National Guard, his father living in Kamas, when he fell in love with the sport of bobsledding.

Holcomb died at the age of 37 while in his bed at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York in 2017.

Holcomb and his sled mates won:

1. gold, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, four-man bobsled
2. silver, Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, four-man bobsled
3. silver, Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, two-man bobsled

Lake Placid is the only other refrigerated sliding track in the United States. This year they opened their newly redone push track which is inside a building. The Utah Olympic Park’s new push track is outside, at the bottom of the track, adjacent to the ‘lower loop’ or the kreis, meaning circle. A circle is one of only two requirements when countries build a new sliding track, the other being a quick left-right-left or right-left-right turning section known as the chicane.

Push practice is crucial in the sliding sports of bobsled, skeleton, and luge. Gravity sports, the sleds are absent of accelerators, and of brakes for all intents and purposes, thus only allowing for the possibility to lose time, not gain it, as the sled jets down the iced track. An athlete’s or team’s push time will almost certainly make or break their run as faster is better. On Park City’s new push track, the mastery of the perfect push will be more attainable for development and seasoned athletes alike, following in the footsteps of their idol, Holcomb.

Carl Roepke was the P.A. announcer for all of Holcombs Olympic medals, his top 15’s in the Torino 2006 Olympics, and his sideline appearance as an alternate in the Salt Lake 2002 Games as well as many of his world cup and world championship races and his celebration of life ceremony community track walk where the idea of this push track grew angel wings. Roepke told me, “Since his tragic passing, the entire sliding community knew that creating this push track at his home track, evoking Steve, was the only thing that made sense. It’s bittersweet that this season starts this new chapter in his legacy. He was always a mentor to young athletes who looked up to him so having them train at the Utah Olympic Park track in the art and science of sled pushing, something he had such an undeniable talent for, is truly special.”

Happier times found Holcomb doing his happy ‘Holchey dance” in all corners of the globe as he and his teammates represented The United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, often in his famous four-man sled dubbed “The Night Train.” Facing a diagnosis of near-total blindness prior to his success in the Olympics, Holcomb suffered from depression before surgery gifted him his sight back, a journey in physical health and in mental health chronicled in his book, “But Now I See: My Journey From Blindness To Olympic Gold,” an autobiography.

Holcomb’s Team USA Awards include:

• 2017 – Athlete of the Year
• 2015 – Athlete of the Year
• 2014 – Athlete of the Year
• 2012 – Athlete of the Year
• 2010 – Men’s Bobsled Athlete of the Year
• 2010 – Team of the Year with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, and Curt Tomasevicz
• 2009 – Team of the Year with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, and Curt Tomasevicz

When the track-workers ‘flip the switch’ to make ice this weekend, the concrete track will remain iced over until approximately April 10, playing an important role in the global sliding community in this Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic year. A refrigeration plant building sends refrigerant through pipes embedded into the track permeating the cold right through the relatively porous concrete. Track workers tirelessly combine water with the refrigerant utilizing hyper-specialized techniques with highly customized tools akin to hoses, scrapers, shovels, buckets, trowels, planers, and an Italian tractor-like vehicle which aids in sweeping with the ideal to sculpt fast flawless ice. They’ll perform hourly ice maintenance throughout the season. Additionally, an elaborate canvas shading system ensures that neither undesirable sun nor snow infiltrates their track. 

Bobsledders with disabilities, much to their dismay, and not from lack of trying, won’t be competing in the Beijing 2022 Paralympics, but thanks in no small part, to the dedicated efforts of many Parkites traveling the world lobbying, and in conjunction with the National Ability Center, the International Paralympic Committee will accept the sport into its program in coming Games. They will, however, benefit from this new push track.

Coming Games will, if the greater majority of Park City residents and visitors have their druthers, once again be hosted in Utah, a goal being actively pursued via the Olympic bid process. 

To book a recreational bobsled ride for this winter click here or to join the local competitive bobsled or skeleton club, click here.