The apex winter sport body, International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) has finalised its calendar for the Olympic winter 2017-18; the calendar includes 151 races in eight countries on three different continents. Around 120 of these races offer the chance to qualify for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang.
For this obvious reason the BMW IBSF World Cup Tour, the IBSF Para-Sport World Cup Tour and the IBSF Para-Sport World Championships as well as eight Europe Cups, eight North America Cups and eight Intercontinental Cups will call the attention of the worldwide Bobsleigh and Skeleton Family and Fans.
Come November, the BMW IBSF World Cup Season will start in North America. For a total of eight races, hosting five disciplines each, Lake Placid/USA will be the kick-off venue (Nov 5 – 10, 2017), followed by Park City/USA (Nov 13-18, 2017) and Whistler Mountain/CAN (Nov 20-25, 2017). In Europe the IBSF top-athletes will then compete in Winterberg/GER (Dec 4-10, 2017) and Igls/AUT (Dec 11-17, 2017) before breaking for the Christmas festival. Then, from the first day of the New Year, the series will restart with World Cup races in Altenberg/GER (Jan 1-7, 2018), before heading to the unique natural ice track in St. Moritz/SUI (Jan 8-14, 2018). The overall World Cup titles will then be awarded at the last BMW IBSF World Cup race of the season in Königssee/GER (Jan 15-21, 2018).
One important date is January 14th, 2018, when the qualification process for PyeongChang 2018 ends. The flame for this most important event in every athlete’s career and the highlight of the upcoming IBSF race season will be lit up on February 9, 2018. Once qualified for the Winter Olympics, the 220 entitled IBSF athletes will race on Feb. 15-17 (Skeleton), Feb. 18-21 (2-man and Women’s Bobsleigh) and Feb. 24-25 (4-man Bobsleigh) in the newly build track at Alpensia Sliding Center in PyeongChang/Korea.
Moving over to the Para-sport, The calendar shows an exciting race series to come up with a total of five double World Cup competitions (Calgary/CAN, Nov 19-24; Lake Placid/USA, Nov 27-Dec 01; Igls/AUT, Jan 14-19; Oberhof/GER, Jan 21-26; St. Moritz/SUI, Jan 29-Feb 02). The Para Sport World Championship from March 6-11, 2018 will not only be the highlight of the upcoming Para-sport competitions but also the closing event of the overall IBSF 2017-18 race season.
Highlights:
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup Lake Placid (USA) 5-10 Nov 2017.
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup Park City (USA) 13-18 Nov 2017.
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup Whistler Mountain (CAN) 20-25 Nov 2017.
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup Winterberg (GER) 4-10 Dec 2017.
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup Innsbruck (AUT) 11-17 Dec 2017.
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup Altenberg (GER) 1-7 Jan 2018.
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup St. Moritz (SUI) 8-14 Jan 2018.
- BMW IBSF Bobsleigh + Skeleton World Cup Königssee (GER) 15-21 Jan 2018
XXIII. Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang (KOR) 9-25 Feb 2018
IBSF Para-Sport World Championships 6-11 Mar 2018