In one year’s time Italy will be welcoming the world to the Winter Olympics, but a sizeable number of athletes could instead be competing for medals more than 4,000 miles away in the United States.
The sliding centre in Cortina – which will stage bobsleigh, skeleton and luge – is facing a race against time to be ready.
The venue is being completely rebuilt on a century-old track at a cost of more than £72 million, sanctioned by the Italian government.
The official deadline is March for when the new track must have been iced, tested and certified.
Lake Placid in New York state is the confirmed alternative, despite world class tracks including Igls in Austria and St Moritz in Switzerland being considerably nearer.
English (US) ·