Pre-Season Training Camp in Oberhof: Preparing for Winter

Oberhof is a prime location for winter sports, featuring both a luge track and an Ice House—a specialized facility where bobsleigh athletes can easily practice their starts. The Ice House is essentially an indoor track, about 80 meters long, which slopes slightly downhill at the beginning. Athletes push a sled-like cart to simulate the explosive starts required in bobsleigh.

Unlike many other countries, we don’t have access to such a facility in the Netherlands, so we typically travel to Winterberg to train. However, this time we chose Oberhof because it already has ice early in the season. Winterberg has a tartan track, but to simulate real bobsleigh conditions as closely as possible, Oberhof provides the better setup. This camp is crucial as we build toward the winter season, focusing on fine-tuning our starts and working on team coordination.

In addition to our training sessions, we’ll be conducting pre-season testing on the second day. This is a critical moment for the entire team, as it involves individual push tests from different positions on the sled. Athletes will push from the back and both sides, giving us an accurate measure of who is the fastest from each position. This helps determine who will start in which position on the sled throughout the season.

For the push athletes, pre-season testing is especially intense. The fastest athlete is guaranteed a spot in both the four-man and two-man bobsleigh, making it a high-stakes moment for everyone. Alongside our core team—Janko, Jelen, Stephan, Joris, and Dave—we’re also bringing three new athletes who showed the most potential during the test days at Papendal. They’ll be aiming to secure a spot in the sled, adding an extra layer of excitement and competition to the camp.

This training camp in Oberhof marks the beginning of an important phase in our preparation. It’s not just about getting back into the rhythm of bobsleigh; it’s about fine-tuning every detail so we’re ready to compete at the highest level once winter comes. We’re excited to see how the team performs and who will step up during the pre-season testing.

The journey to the winter season has begun, and we’re ready to give it everything we’ve got!