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With its first year of operations nearly over, a numerical foundation has been built that not only sets standards for athletes to be judged by, but also casts a reputation for the Whistler Sliding Centre.
Track records for start time, run time and top speed have been set for skeleton, luge and bobsleigh. Craig Lehto, sliding centre director, says track records are such an integral part of the culture of sliding sports that it felt weird before the markers were set.
“Now that we have them the lore of our track starts to develop,” Lehto says.
With records in place, racers and coaches now know the fastest time down the track, given ice conditions and weather which, as with any outdoor sport, can be a factor. Athletes can compare how quickly they’re able to propel their sleds out of the start and how close they are to the top speed relative to the world’s best.
The most revered record is for the fastest time from the top down to the bottom. However, Lehto says for bobsleigh teams, there’s an extra focus on the start times.
“It’s kind of honouring the brakemen or women because they don’t get a lot of glory in the ‘down time’ that’s always so much about the pilot,” he says.
The Whistler Sliding Centre’s reputation for being the fastest track has created quite a buzz in the sliding world. “We get a lot of questions about speeds. People are focusing on it probably inordinately more than other tracks do because that’s our reputation and it’s becoming part of our culture,” Lehto says.
Ultimately, speed is an indication of how well you are doing on the course. However, says Lehto, it’s not a guarantee of how you will do as you can post the fastest speed and still lose the race.
Lehto says sliding records are not a predictor of performance at another track. Canada’s Melissa Hollingsworth has the “down time” record of 54.81 seconds and the speed record of 139.57 km/h for women’s skeleton at the Whistler track. In the lingo of the sliding culture, Lehto says Hollingsworth “owns the track,” adding, “She’s the fastest person and has top speed on this track, but it has no relative comparison to other tracks at all.”
However, track records aren’t just celebrated by the athletes who set them. The track crews at the event deserve credit as well. The crews are responsible for hand-crafting the sliding surface and good ice plays a key role whenever a record is set. Lehto says when a new record is flashed on the scoreboard, track crew members know they’ve done a great job and deservingly they take a lot of pride in being part of it.
Tradition dictates that there’s a bit of a debt owed to the track crew when a record is set, and it’s not unusual for the record setters and the coaches to show their appreciation by honouring the track crew with a few brews after the race.
Regardless of when the current records fall or the nationality of the athlete(s) who break them, it will be the track crew’s hard efforts that helps make the difference.
