Olympic Bobsleigh Betting Odds For Milano Cortina 2026

What Is The History Of Olympic Bobsledding?

The sport was invented in the late 1860’s by the Swiss when they attached two skeleton sleds together and added a way to steer (called a toboggan). Hotel manager Caspar Badrutt took the idea and marketed the activity as a part of the “winter resorting” season for his regular English tourists. The sport’s name derives from contestants bobbing back and forth to make the sled move faster.

Bobsled competitions began in 1884 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, starting with straight runs on snow-covered roads. The first bobsleigh club was founded in 1897 in St. Moritz, and the first track built specifically for the sport opened in 1902. Tracks eventually added twists and turns to increase the difficulty of competitions, and the original wooden sleighs were replaced by fiberglass and metal sleds. The sport was introduced at the inaugural Winter Olympic Games in 1924, appearing in every Winter Olympics since (excluding 1960 when organizers refused to build a track). Women’s Bobsleigh was introduced at the 19th Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.