There’s a chance that bobsled, luge and skeleton events for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy could be held in upstate New York.
The Olympic Regional Development Authority, the organization that manages multiple athletic venues in the Adirondacks including the sliding venue in Lake Placid, says it entered “targeted dialogue” with organizers of the Milan-Cortina Games to become a Plan B.
That’s because a track is currently being rebuilt in Italy and might not be ready in time.
Lake Placid hosted the 1980 and 1932 Winter Olympics, is a training ground for U.S. Olympic athletes, and hosted the World University Games in 2023.
To learn more about the planning discussions underway and what a potential return of Olympic sports to Lake Placid could mean for the region, WAMC’s Lucas Willard spoke with ORDA Director of Communications Darcy Rowe Norfolk:
We recently were informed through the U.S. OPC, who received the letter of intent, essentially, and we were notified, obviously, through the U.S. OPC, that we were intended to be the Plan B backup, and so we've moved into a targeted dialog phase with the Milano-Cortina organizing committee to now put our proposal into a detailed plan to be the plan be back up, and therefore at this stage, we now will engage with stakeholders and partners to formalize the bid into a detailed plan and work with Milano-Cortina to get to that point, collectively.
What can you tell me about the services and the structures that the athletics will be held on? In your plan do you anticipate any upgrades or work to go into the facilities before a potential 2026 games?
So, the sliding track at Mount Van Hoevenberg was not actually one of the venues that was part of the larger investment by the State of New York, mainly because the FISU World University Games did not include sliding sports. But, with that said, the sliding track has been maintained and is fully operational, and we are also hosting the world championships in skeleton and bobsled this March, so we are very functional. But obviously over time, you know, major upgrades do need to happen and therefore our board did just recently approve a go-forward on upgrades, in particular to the refrigeration system at Mount Van Hoevenberg, which will be a great benefit to the track for the long term. And so, the you the five-year-plan, essentially to upgrade the facility to present day, which is just necessary, is being accelerated to position us to be a Plan B, backup, if needed.
How much advance notice would you need for the games to go smoothly in Lake Placid, if it were chosen? Is there a timeline that ORDA has where things need to be in place, or a goal that that the team in Milan has to reach before there is a go-ahead in Lake Placid?
That is really part of the next step in the targeted dialog is to really come collectively to a place where we can answer that question best, and so until we detail out and formalize a plan and know what we have in front of us, it's a tricky question to answer, but what I can say, the more time, the better.
Now, you mentioned some of the other spotlights on Lake Placid, if you will. What's the potential for economic development if these games do come to the Adirondacks in 2026?
Well, you know, the Olympics bring the highest scale of guests, essentially, and spectators. So, I mean, we've seen, even just from world cups and world championships, the 1000s that we can bring to our region and to obviously have an Olympic event in a former host city. Obviously, the economic impact would be probably the highest that we could, you know, get in terms of spending, whether it's beds and food and beverage, etc. So, it will have a ripple effect, for sure. And that's always an objective, to ensure that, you know, the economic benefits of what we what we service here in Lake Placid with events, recreation attractions, is that it does have an impact outside of Lake Placid.
Could there be any hometown advantages, if you will, for U.S. athletes, if the games were held in Lake Placid?
So the Mount Van Hoevenberg sliding track is well known throughout the world as being a technical track and one of fair play and competitive. Therefore, I wouldn't technically say that it would be a home field advantage, because a lot of international athletes do like our track and do come here to train as well as compete, obviously, in the events that we do host.
Now, if Lake Placid were not selected for the Olympic Games in 2026, what does this selection as a Plan B, if you will, tell us about the future of the facility at Lake Placid in 2027 and beyond?
Well, we have had significant investment by the state of New York, obviously, over the past 10 years to rejuvenate, modernize and upgrade our facilities. And you know, we know we're in demand. We're hosting more world cups, world championships, as I mentioned, we hosted the FISU World University Games. Therefore, the economic benefits are obviously being seen and the notoriety within the Olympic movement to be even honored with the designation of the Plan B just keep us relevant within the Olympic movement and showcases us and what we can do, not only from a venue perspective, but also from a staffing perspective. So, our organization is on a year-round basis, now hosting large events, but also maintaining and operating venues at the highest level, alongside recreation and attractions. And so, we are a very versed set of professionals who expand and contract with resources, of course, but can step in, can be leaned on, can be utilized in many ways to facilitate great events, and we've seen that now, even off season of winter, which is the UCI Mountain Biking World Series that we just hosted. And so, I think the biggest accolade is towards our people, that we are being seen as an organization, that another host city is seeing confidence in that we would be able to step in and support and provide a great experience. And I think that's probably the biggest takeaway for us.
