A day for the bobsleigh

Today, and February 12th annually is Bobsleigh Day ボブスレーの日 in Japan. The date, February 12th, was chosen to commemorate the first All‑Japan Bobsleigh Championships held in Sapporo in 1938. The event marked a milestone in the country’s early engagement with winter sliding sports, long before Japan became a regular presence in international competitions.

Bobsleigh is a high‑speed winter sport in which teams race down an iced track in a specially designed sled, reaching speeds of 130 to 140 km/h. Because of this extreme velocity, the sport is often called the “Formula One on ice.” It has been part of the Winter Olympics since the inaugural 1924 Chamonix Games, and its combination of precision, teamwork, and engineering continues to fascinate athletes and spectators alike.

In Japan, however, opportunities to train are limited: as far as I am aware there is only one official bobsleigh track, the Spiral in Nagano. It was built for the 1998 Winter Olympics. I have a print photo of it somewhere, because I visited it in 2000, but it would take me too long to find it, so I have just used a photo of snow for this post! Its a 1,700‑meter course and remains the sole venue capable of hosting sanctioned competitions, making it both a symbol of Japan’s Olympic legacy and a crucial training ground for bobsleigh athletes.