Bobsleigh World Cup (IBSF)

The winter race series

While the Olympic Games and world championships are individual highlights, the World Cup sets the rhythm of the bobsleigh season. From November to February, teams travel from track to track. At each stop there are races in women's monobob as well as two-man and four-man bob. The IBSF sets the number of stops and races for each season.

Venues

Many World Cup races take place in the German-speaking area. Regular fixtures are the tracks at Winterberg, Altenberg, Königssee and Oberhof in Germany, Igls near Innsbruck in Austria and the natural-ice track in St. Moritz in Switzerland. There are also tracks in Latvia, North America and Asia. Which tracks are used also depends on renovations and damage, as most recently at Königssee after the 2021 floods.

Scoring

Each race usually consists of two runs, whose times are added together. World Cup points are awarded for each placing. At the end of the season, whoever has collected the most points wins and receives a crystal globe. A World Cup win shows consistency over the whole season, while a world championship medal shows form on a single weekend.

Feeder series

Below the World Cup are the European Cup and the North American Cup. There, young pilots and smaller nations gain experience and points for World Cup starting places. How many sleds a nation may enter in the World Cup depends on its results.

German dominance

German pilots have often won the overall standings in recent years, above all Francesco Friedrich in the two-man and four-man bob. German women pilots have also regularly been among the winners. More about the sport can be found in the entry Bobsleigh.

Watching

World Cup races in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are easy to reach and usually cheaper than major events. At the track you only see the bobs for seconds, but you feel the speed up close. Many spectators stand at a curve and follow the rest on video screens.

World Cup and world championship

The world championship is a separate race outside the World Cup standings, usually at the end of February or beginning of March. Four runs are raced there instead of two, which rewards consistency even more. Many teams build their season around the world championship or, in Olympic years, the Games, and use the World Cup to test equipment and start line-ups. A team can therefore win the overall World Cup without finishing at the top at the world championship, and vice versa.

Equipment in the World Cup

Because the tracks differ greatly, runners and set-up are adjusted from stop to stop. Teams travel with several sets of runners and technicians. Before every run, officials check weight and runner temperature.