Reconstruction of the Olympic Bobsled Run in Igls

A combined luge, bobsleigh, and skeleton run was built especially for the Olympic Winter Games in 1976 which were held in the holiday sport resort of Iglis near Innsbruck situated on a terrace at the foot of the famous “Patscherkofel”. For the first time, the Innsbruck Olympic organizers succeeded in having all the Olympic Bob and Toboggan competitions in one and the same bobsled run. This was real pioneer work within the development of Olympic Sports and had a decisive influence on the future of skeleton sports. This first combined bobsled run world-wide became a prototype construction for future ice rinks, bobsled and toboggan runs.

Following various rebuildings in 1981 and 1998, a fundamental reconstruction was planned in 2004.
The 1,270 m long ice canal is made entirely of in-situ concrete housing a total of 80 km of cooling pipes. After 28 years of service life it was more than necessary to repair the concrete. The executing company, which is specialized in corrosion and surface protection, was commissioned with the implementation of the reconstruction work. The full extent of damage, however, did not become evident before the specialists pretreated the entire surface with high-pressure water jets. In addition to extensive corrosion damage in steel reinforcements, the concrete was affected by considerable crack formation. It was necessary to close the cracks obtaining structural strength to ensure that the concrete would also in the future be able to take heavy loads.

Due to the extent of damage it was not possible to fill the cracks individually which is why the damaged surfaces were impregnated in their entity. WEBAC_® 4110 was used and applied on the damaged areas by roller until no more material was penetrating the cracks. The large crack widths ensured a high filling level so that a sufficient degree of structural strength was obtained. Stoved quartz sand was scattered on the treated surfaces in order to promote adhesion to the subsequent mineral reprofiling mortar. After reprofiling the concrete, the entire surface was coated with a PCC fine shot mortar. A total of about 6,000 m² of concrete surfaces was reconstructed this way.

Thanks to WEBAC_® 4110, a perfectly new ice channel has been available since November 2004 and gives winter athletes the opportunity to rush down to the valley again at up to 120 km/h.