Seasonal snapshot of Winter Olympic sister city-of-sorts, Lake Placid, NY

The "Miracle On Ice" hockey stadium in Lake Placid, N.Y. where Captain Mike Eruzione parlayed a team gold medal in the 1980 Olympics to the opportunity to light the Opening Ceremony Torch in the Salt Lake 2002 Games. Photo: Michele Roepke // Townlift

Lake Placid has the country's only indoor, year-round iced training tracks for bobsled, skeleton and luge

LAKE PLACID, New York — Park City athletes rack up frequent flyer miles competing and training in Lake Placid, New York, which many think of as an unofficial sister city, as it has hosted not one but two Winter Olympic Games, in 1932 and again in 10980.

This week the community hosted an FIS Ski Jumping Continental Cup, the National Championships for Nordic Combined, and the Skeleton Push Track National Championships.

Lake Placid has the country’s only indoor, year-round iced training tracks for the sliding sports of bobsled, skeleton, and luge. 

Bobsled, skeleton, and luge take place on the outdoor track where this winter, they’ll host a Luge World Cup. The same venue location shares space with the Olympic cross country skiing and biathlon course. Also this winter, Lake Placid will host a World Cup for Ski Jumping.

The ski jumping/nordic combined hills venue are on adjacent acreage to the freestyle ski training summer pool/winter hill. It’s a United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Olympic training site. 

An Olympic Training Center sits up the street with its sport sciences department, cafeteria, on-site housing and customized work out equipment for teams traveling from out of town for summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports.

Alpine ski racing is a few miles out of town at Whiteface Mountain. 

The Northwoods School is where high schoolers move to for a comprehensive elite student-athlete experience.

On the Main Street of old town Lake Placid sits the Olympic Museum whereby a steady stream of visitors tour the famous “Miracle on Ice” hockey stadium. Inside the building is another hockey rink as well as a speed skating venue, not to mention the outdoor Olympic speed skating rink.

Not only do athletes commute back and forth from Lake Placid to Park City, but so do coaches, officials and sport administrators who are in constant communication as they all work with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to prepare American athletes for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, and beyond.