Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – After a 70-year hiatus, the Winter Olympic Games returned to the Italian town, and with it, a third revival for bobsleigh on this historic track. The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, running from February 6th to 22nd, weren’t just a spectacle for athletes and fans, but also a unique opportunity for sports medicine professionals and scientists – including those from nations where maintaining an ice track is simply not feasible.
Latvia’s Olympic team physician, Jānis Kaupe, participated in his sixth Olympic Games, and his observations regarding bobsleigh pilot Jēkabs Kalenda resonated. Kalenda achieved his best starts of the season right here in Cortina, with both the two-man and four-man teams finishing within the top ten, according to a report on LSM.lv.
“A bobsleigh athlete does more than they think, they do it quickly. Primarily, it’s about big muscles, from a physiological aspect, with fast-twitch fibers. That’s what we look for,” explained Kaupe. “Winter athletes are all a little bit of themselves, a little bit stubborn, and don’t react much to minor discomforts.”
Kaupe praised Kalenda’s composure and the impression of seeming indifference the pilot projected.
“He [Kalenda] enjoys the Olympics and perceives it, I think, very productively, as he should. He talked, and there’s a feeling that he’s opened up here [in Cortina],” Kaupe said. “Perhaps he feels safe, comfortable, he has the experienced [brakeman] Matīss Miknis next to him, we help a little there too, and he feels secure. His little ‘indifference,’ I think, helps him to focus on the right moments.”
Kalenda also received praise from his brakemen, Mairis Kļava and Matīss Miknis. Kļava highlighted Kalenda’s contribution to Latvia’s two top-ten finishes, while Miknis noted that even with one stumble in eight runs, it was a very good level of result, especially in the most important competitions of the season.
Unfortunately, Latvia only had one team competing in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Renārs Grantiņš suffered a neck injury during training, forcing him to withdraw from the Games. The injury involved a displaced cervical vertebra, requiring immediate medical attention and potential surgery at a larger hospital in Treviso. Fortunately, strong neck muscles prevented further displacement and more severe consequences.
Kaupe had the opportunity to observe Olympic athlete medical care twice, and rated the Italian specialists a ten out of ten, with a bonus.
“They specifically cleared the entire hospital just for [the Olympic] Games, brought in regional doctors, and the way they manage the situation – there wasn’t a single person’s decision at any point,” Kaupe explained. “Immediately, three come together to form a kind of mini-council. I just watched and didn’t interfere with their work.”
Sports doctor and medical science doctoral candidate Sandra Rozenštoka, along with foreign colleagues, implemented a scientific environmental intelligence program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. The international group of scientists included specialists from Hong Kong, Austria, and Spain.
“We have athletes whose performance we can measure online. Our technology is connected to the athlete in real-time,” explained Yannis Picalidis, head of the Olympic Games environmental intelligence program. “Then, using artificial intelligence, we can predict what the athlete needs to do to stay safe. That is our first priority. Secondly, to break world records or achieve higher goals. That’s what we want to do.”
The goal of the scientific program is to promote athlete safety and maximize their performance so that the public can watch great competitions.
“The beauty of the Olympic Games is that the technologies we develop here can also be used at home,” Picalidis emphasized. “We receive data online on our mobile phones, and that can inform teams of athletes how best to prepare their sleds or skis.”
The amount of data is so large that artificial intelligence assistance is useful in processing and compiling it.
Rozenštoka emphasized the athletes’ physical preparation, but data analysis helps to correctly assess potential risks and mitigate them.
“In neck strength tests, the neck flexor muscles of their [athletes] are two to three times stronger than those of an ordinary person who is not involved in these sports,” Rozenštoka noted. “Then you can also see those G-forces, how big they are and at what point in the track. It will be possible to assess in which sport, in the training process, to include, for example, separate exercises or targeted load, in order to reduce risks.”
Bobsleigh also attracts representatives from countries where the air temperature is rarely below 20 degrees Celsius.
“When I arrive in Europe, I usually like to lower the room temperature to a certain level so that when I go out into the cold, I don’t really feel cold. So, the cold doesn’t affect me,” said Jamaican bobsleigh pilot Shane Pitters.
The film “Cool Runnings” told the story of Jamaica’s debut in the Winter Olympics, participating in bobsleigh at the 1988 Calgary Games. The Jamaican Olympic team also lined up at the start in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Jamaican bobsleigh pilot Shane Pitters (left) with brakemen Junior Harris, Taikendo Tracey and Joel Feron
Photo: SCANPIX/dpa/picture-alliance
“I participated in athletics competitions in Jamaica, and a guy who participated in the 2022 Olympic Games came up and asked if we – me and my teammate – would like to join bobsleigh. I asked him what bobsleigh was,” Pitters recalled his entry into the sport. “He said it’s a small box that you run with, push down a hill, jump in, and whoever gets down fastest wins. I thought: me, me, me! It sounded fun! And that’s how my bobsleigh journey began.”
A large part of the fans in Cortina supported the Jamaican team.
Joel Feron’s mother, Jacklyn, didn’t hide the fact that her son’s passion for bobsleigh had always seemed frightening, but it was a sport he chose for himself.
“So we just support him,” emphasized the Jamaican bobsleigh athlete’s mother. “These Olympic Games have made bobsleigh much more visible to Jamaicans, creating an opportunity to say: ‘I want to become a bobsleigh athlete.’”
The track’s central square was crowded with fans on competition days – although bobsleigh is far from the most popular sport in the world, it has been able to find its fans at the Olympic Games.
“It’s a small sport, and it’s quite random that we know someone who does it. Everyone we know plays football, but it seems some people also go bobsleighing,” said Polo, a bobsleigh fan from Germany.
“It’s great – You’ll see a lot of kids here, there’s a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of competition between different countries, the Germans are ahead again, but you know, the US team, we’re slowly catching up,” said Eric Wilson, a US bobsleigh fan.
“It’s spectacular. Of course, it’s beautiful, and you can enjoy beautiful views from all sides, so it’s fantastic,” added Jason Bennet, a US bobsleigh fan.
“This is a great track, and the atmosphere here is great. Yes, I just love the speed of the competition. I think there’s a lot of excitement, and anything can happen at any moment,” said Baik Weiley, a US bobsleigh fan. “It’s been wild. The Italians have been super wonderful, super hospitable. They are very friendly. There are a lot of people here from all over the world. It’s amazing. The infrastructure is great.”
“As a fan, I have to take the bus, and everything works perfectly. So I’m very happy to be here. The atmosphere is great because all the countries are represented, and everyone is in a friendly mood. I really like it,” said Magnus, a bobsleigh fan from Germany.
Meanwhile, Vittorio – a bobsleigh fan from Italy – believes that his compatriots enjoy being the hosts of the Olympic Games: “Also in Milan, people, I think, really enjoyed hosting the Games.”
The locals welcomed the Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo with a smile and a large dose of Italian peace.
