The Cortina bobsled track, after months of controversy, has actually been built. Government commissioner Simico explains how he brought the project to completion.
While athletes from around the world are yet to make history at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, another story has been unfolding over these past years. At its heart has been the issue of sports venues – their costs, their reuse, and their impact on communities and the environment. And among all these sporting structures, none has sparked more debate than the bobsled, luge and skeleton track at Cortina.
A track in Cortina already existed, having been built for the 1956 Cortina Olympics. Over the years, however, it fell into increasingly disuse, until its definitive closure in 2008. The decision to build a new one therefore sparked considerable controversy and debate.
The original project by Coni, the Italian National Olympic Committee, called for the renovation of the old track as part of a broad redevelopment plan for the area, which would also have included the construction of a sports centre and an adjacent park.
Once work began, however, a number of problems emerged: costs rose steadily, eventually exceeding 120 million euros, the timeline quickly appeared difficult to meet, and, finally, the issue of environmental impact was raised, prompting protests from the residents of Cortina, local communities and beyond.
All of this led, in October 2023, to the decision to abandon the project, with consideration being given to moving the events abroad or even removing them from the Olympic programme altogether.
Just a few months later, in February 2023, came a dramatic U-turn: Italy and Coni refused to accept the idea of becoming the first host country of the Games to have to use another nation's facilities for their own Olympics, and so the decision was made to scale back the project and to go above and beyond to renovate the track and make it ready for the Games.
The project was revised once more, the cost brought down to around 81 million euros, the surrounding park was dropped, and the works were entrusted to the firm Pizzarotti.
In March 2025 the track was officially unveiled to the public following IOC approval, although costs had once again risen, returning to the original figure: 118 million euros, as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
To shed light on this very Italian saga, we interviewed the Government commissioner and chief executive officer of Simico (Società infrastrutture Milano Cortina 2026), architect Fabio Massimo Saldini, asking him to walk us through the details of the project and to clarify, once and for all, what the future holds for the track after the Games and what its impact on the mountain habitat has been and will be.
Architect Saldini, let's start by taking stock of where things stand following IOC approval: has the project been completed? What steps still need to be finalised before the Games begin?
Construction of the Cortina sliding centre is proceeding precisely on schedule. The building site, after these final weeks of pre-homologation, will see the completion of all remaining associated works – such as the roof covering, a structure featuring a green roof. There are also buildings constructed with the characteristic pitched-roof form that echoes the local Ampezzo architectural tradition. The entire intervention area will then be softened with green landscaping, including pedestrian and road pathways surfaced with Dolomite gravel. Everything will be concluded, as planned, in November with homologation and handover to Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026.
Beyond the track itself, what does the project provide for the surrounding area?
This is an extraordinary and innovative sporting facility, among the finest in the world. At the same time, we are talking about a genuine urban intervention that brings improvements both in terms of access routes and from an environmental standpoint.
What are the distinctive features of the project? What types of materials were used?
The track, designed to minimise environmental impact, incorporates an advanced refrigeration system – delivered last February – with a cooling capacity of 3,150 kilowatt-hours and the use of eco-compatible solutions. The overall power output of the system is 4.4 megawatts, which ensures ice production along the entire length of the track. The carrier fluid – used for the first time in Europe and for the first time in the world for sporting competitions – is glycol, which is cooled in the refrigeration plant and then pumped around the entire circuit. Along the curves and straights there are steel pipes that serve both as a structural element of the track and as conduits for the fluid, cooling the concrete and producing ice on all the walls of the sliding centre. In order to control the temperature along the track, 33 pumping stations have been installed, each allowing the temperature to be adjusted individually according to greater or lesser exposure to sunlight. Individual sections can in turn be subdivided into 77 zones where the temperature is regulated with maximum precision at every point on the track. To reduce energy consumption, waste heat is recovered, collected and distributed via an internal district heating network to the buildings serving the bobsled track and to other nearby sports facilities.
What will become of the track after the Olympics?
The track will be used for both training and competition – I am thinking, for example, of the upcoming World Cup in November. Its technical characteristics make it unique in the world and technologically advanced. Our primary commitment is precisely to legacy. Not only for the bobsled track, but in general: what we leave to the territories in material terms is clear, but the intangible legacy is the true benefit of the Olympics – a know-how that only an exceptional event like the Games can build. And I would add: a social legacy too. Over these past months I have personally witnessed the integration between cultures fostered by working side by side on the building sites. An extraordinary sense of community, with people from every country working together daily towards a shared goal.
What is the track's impact on the surrounding mountain ecosystem? How much green space has been removed or added compared to before?
When the decision was made to build the sliding centre, the historic and storied Eugenio Monti track had been abandoned, and this had created negative consequences for the entire area. The project is in effect an extraordinary environmental regeneration. Beyond the controversies, the truth is that originally the removal of 2,000 trees and shrubs had been estimated. Thanks to a further revision of the project, Simico proceeded with the felling of 825 trees. But above all, for every tree cut down, 12 will be planted: this will result in the planting of over 10,000 new trees. Never has a falling tree made more news than a growing forest.
How much labour was required?
In addition to the firm Pizzarotti, which I thank for the outstanding work carried out, there were 35 subcontractors – companies mainly from the Belluno area and from across the country – and 115 materials suppliers. An average of 135 people were present on site each day across the 304 working days needed to build the track.
How did we go from a tender that received no bids in the summer of 2023 to a track that was then built in just 13 months? Why, in previous years, was the project described as almost impossible to deliver given the time constraints, yet it was ultimately completed? What changed?
We worked hard and well. With professionalism and passion. That's all there is to it. I won't speak to what came before, but from the moment I took on the role of Government commissioner and chief executive officer – from February 2024 – I can say that this year has seen us engaged every single day: we only stopped at Christmas. Many have written that it was a miracle. In truth, very few believed it could be done, but we succeeded because we applied the three pillars of our management approach: timelines, costs, quality. That has been acknowledged by the emotional eyes of the athletes, the official documents from the Federations, and, among others, the international press.
What are the official costs and who has borne them?
The official costs of the track and all 94 works in the Olympic plan approved by the Italian government through two dpcm (decreto del presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri, ed.) are available online on our website. Through the Open Milano Cortina 2026* platform, we ensure that everyone can consult costs, funding sources and progress of works against the scheduled timeline.
What was the IOC's reaction upon seeing the project at an advanced stage?
First, allow me to say that the response from the athletes who took part in the pre-homologation was extraordinary. Seeing the joy in their eyes repaid us for the enormous work done this year. The most significant comment, I believe, was that of Ivo Ferriani – former Italian bobsledder, IOC member and president of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation – who said it was "simply fantastic to see our track ready for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games."
*Reading the information published on the Open Milano Cortina 2026 platform, there are 94 interventions in total, of which 44 are sports facilities and 50 are transport infrastructure, with a total expenditure of 118,424,000 euros and an overall economic value of 3.4 billion euros.