Athletes return to Königssee ice track after five years

Athletes have returned to the rebuilt artificial ice track at Königssee for training, five years after flooding destroyed much of the facility, BR reports. The venue is still undergoing final work, and its first competition since the disaster is scheduled for November 11.

Skeleton athlete Marie Angerer, a two-time junior world champion, was among the first to train on the track. “I’m really excited,” she said before her run. After completing the course, she said it felt different from how she remembered it but that she had quickly found her way back.

A severe storm in the summer of 2021 sent water, mud and debris down the Klingerbach stream, sweeping away large parts of the track. Thomas Schwab, head of the German Bobsleigh and Luge Federation, said he had been close to tears at the time. He had not expected the rebuild to take five years.

The closure forced regional athletes to travel to other training venues, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away. Former luger Georg “Schorsch” Hackl said the lack of a home track had serious effects on youth participation, which was already low before the flood. Coach Anja Selbach, an Olympic bronze medallist, welcomed the return of a training venue for local athletes.

About €58.5 million has been allocated for the reconstruction, which includes measures to improve flood protection. A large debris barrier is designed to hold back tree trunks and boulders, with a catch basin behind it that can hold around 7,000 cubic metres of material.

The Bund Naturschutz environmental group remains concerned, saying the track is in a geologically high-risk area. It has also raised concerns about the ammonia tanks needed to cool the facility, which is close to Königssee and Berchtesgaden National Park.

Plans for a new start tower for the men’s luge event were revised after criticism. The tower is now to be lower and is due to be completed by the 2028 Luge World Championships.