The first official test race on the controversial sliding track being rebuilt for the Milan Cortina Olympics was won by skeleton world champion Matt Weston of Britain.

There won’t be any spectators for the opening races at the controversial sliding venue for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Next year’s Olympic sliding races will be in Italy after all, international luge officials predicted Saturday in another ringing endorsement of the newly rebuilt track in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Emily Sweeney is certain of having a home Olympics next winter.

Picture this: A sliding athlete wins an Olympic medal in Lake Placid next winter, then is chauffeured down to New York for an award ceremony at Rockefeller Center a few days later with thousands of people there to cheer on both moments.

Learn about the history of bobsled at the Olympic Games.