In exactly two years’ time, Italians will bask in the alpenglow of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. If all goes well, organisers will clink their aperitivo glasses at the top of a rebuilt Eugenio Monti Olympic track in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Built in 1923, the 1,350m course was closed in 2008. But since Milano-Cortina was awarded the Olympics – promising to build as little new infrastructure as possible in conformance with newly prevailing International Olympic Committee attitudes – the sliding centre has generated the most handwringing. As recently as December, the committee indicated that the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events would take place outside of Italy due to the country’s lack of an appropriate track.

National pride won out over fiscal prudence, however, as the local organising committee signed a contract this month to refurbish the Eugenio Monti track at a cost of €81.6m in lieu of paying the Swiss or Austrians for hosting privileges. Organisers are now sweating harder than a cross-country skier to deliver a sliding centre that is up to modern standards in time for test events next March. No contractor has ever built a competition-ready bobsleigh track in such a short time.

If the Italians can pull this off, Eugenio Monti will be the world’s second-oldest active track after St Moritz. As the Swiss village can attest, maintaining historic winter sports facilities is a vital act of heritage preservation for Alpine towns. They can inspire the next generation of foolhardy sliding athletes and are tourist attractions. Just consider the crowds that flocked to this past weekend’s running of the Gunter Sachs Cup on the Cresta Run, St Moritz’s 130-year-old natural toboggan track. There are only 16 active sliding centres in the world and just as many that have been decommissioned. Niche but storied Olympic sports like bobsleigh, skeleton and luge need modern facilities or they will wither in the face of less pedigreed newcomers, such as skateboarding and breakdancing. Cortina organisers should slide headfirst into rebuilding the track.

Gregory Scruggs is Monocle’s Seattle correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight subscribe to Monocle today.