During the World Cup title fights in the USA, preparations for Cortina are already in full swing.
Immediately before the medal hunt at the World Cup in Lake Placid, the view in the German Bob team goes far beyond. “If I am honest, I have been more Olympics in my head than the World Cup here,” said national coach René Spies shortly before the start of the World Championships in the US state of New York.
“We already have some discussions about preparation and where we will live,” said Spies with a view to the games in northern Italy (February 6th to 22nd, 2026). He will also travel again at the end of March to the Olympic railway in Cortina d’Ampezzo, which is still under construction and much discussed. Until then, the construction should be completed.
Even if Spies and his coaching team already think – Francesco Friedrich, Laura Nolte and Co. are “more in the here and now,” emphasized Spies. The World Cup is “a very important competition”, its athletes trusted “that we are preparing everything well again and are fully focused on the World Cup”. After that, they too are “only at the Olympics”.
On the first weekend of the title fights in Lake Placid, the women of the mono and the men of two are on the program. It starts on Saturday (from 3:00 p.m. CET) with the men, then the women (from 8:00 p.m.) climb into the bobs. In the runs three and four, the decisions are made on Sunday (from 3:30 p.m.).
Whether dominator Friedrich or permanent rival Johannes Lochner in two is “part of the day,” said Spies: “You are both on the same way.” In the mono, defending champion Nolte and Lisa Buckwitz belong to a large group of gold candidates. It will therefore be “much heavier than last year in Winterberg,” said Spies.