ROME (AP) — The track's essential structure is done. The ice is being prepared. And next week, 60 athletes are slated to test the controversial sliding center for next year’s Milan-Cortina Olympics.
“The track’s structure is done. We had it in our calendars to finish by March 16 and that’s when it was finished,” Fabio Saldini, the government commissioner in charge of rebuilding the century-old track in Cortina d’Ampezzo, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Construction workers celebrated Sunday’s milestone by laying down a branch of an evergreen tree across the track.
“The tree branch represents a starting point, like when (bobsled) teams get ready to push off before launching themselves down the track,” said Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto region that includes Cortina. “I hope that the enthusiasm builds minute by minute in a crescendo worthy of an event of this magnitude.”
Twenty workers preparing ice on the track day and night are slated to finish by Sunday.
Then starting on Monday, bobsled, luge and skeleton athletes will perform test runs in order to secure preliminary certification — homologation is the technical word — for the track. Also coming are 26 coaches, plus officials from the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, International Luge Federation, and the International Olympic Committee.
Even preliminary approval would go a long way toward avoiding a backup Plan B option that the IOC had demanded and which would require moving the three sliding sports all the way to Lake Placid, New York, if the track in Italy wasn’t finished in time.
“As of today, 50% of the ice is ready,” Saldini said. “We had some trouble last week due to high temperatures, rain and snow. But then we covered the track with nets and yesterday we actually put down too much ice.”
Security has been increased around the track since a refrigeration tube was removed and placed across a road in a reported act of sabotage last month, according to the government agency, Simico.
Besides the sliding events, Cortina will also host women’s Alpine skiing and curling during the Winter Games.
Pre-fabricated mobile homes that will host up to 1,400 athletes in an Athletes' Village in Cortina are being put in place this month. The mobile homes will also be used for athletes during the Paralympics.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
FILE - Construction work takes place at the Cortina Sliding Center, venue for the bob, luge and skeleton disciplines at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta, file)
FILE - Construction work takes place at the Cortina Sliding Center, venue for the bob, luge and skeleton disciplines at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta, file)
ADELBODEN, Switzerland (AP) — The big surprise of the World Cup slalom season scored his second win Sunday adding to his fast-rising reputation before the Winter Olympics.
Paco Rassat raced to the fastest time in the second run to rise from fourth place, and push two Norwegians down the podium steps after they had been fastest in the morning run.
United States-born Atle Lie McGrath was edged out by 0.18 seconds and first-run leader Henrik Kristoffersen dropped to third, trailing 0.20 behind Rassat.
The 27-year-old Frenchman had a career-best result of ninth in World Cup races before this Olympic season started.
Rassat now has two wins, a third place and two sixth places this season and shapes as a medal contender for the Milano Cortina Olympics. The men’s slalom is on Feb. 16 at Bormio.
“To win on this crazy hill at Adelboden, It’s something really unbelievable," Rassat told Swiss broadcaster RTS, describing his season as “a magnificent surprise.”
Rassat also took the lead in the seasonlong World Cup slalom standings, ahead of his France teammate Clément Noël, the defending Olympic champion. Noël tied for eighth Sunday.
McGrath was runner-up in the Adelboden slalom for the third time in four years.
“It’s kind of crazy,” said McGrath, whose father Felix skied for the U.S. at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. “I’m of course super happy, it’s such a challenging slope and mentally it’s one of the toughest places to perform because of this amazing crowd.”
Another packed finish-area crowd at Adelboden observed a minute’s silence before racing for the victims of the fatal fire in a bar in nearby Crans-Montana on New Year’s Day. Crans-Montana hosts men’s and women’s World Cup races in three weeks’ time.
The World Cup overall standings leader, four-time title holder Marco Odermatt, does not ski slalom and his huge lead was cut a little by Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who placed fourth. Pinheiro Braathen was second to Odermatt in the classic giant slalom Saturday.
The men’s World Cup circuit stays in central Switzerland for the storied Lauberhorn meeting at Wengen, for a super-G on Friday, the classic downhill Saturday and a slalom Sunday.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Norway's Atle Lie McGrath reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
France's Paco Rassat speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
France's Paco Rassat reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Finland's Eduard Hallberg speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Norway's Atle Lie McGrath speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Zenoni)
Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen ahead of an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup slalom, in Adelboden, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
