Norwegian freeskier Anders Backe has found yet another questionable use for the Olympic bobsled track in Lillehammer. This time he brought his roller skis.
Backe posted video Tuesday of himself dropping into the Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track on a pair of roller-skis, sending it through the steep banked corners of a course originally designed for Olympians moving at highway speeds.
Nearly a Mile of Olympic Bobsled Track
The Lillehammer track was built for the 1994 Winter Olympics and remains the only bobsled track in the Nordic region.
Its competition course runs about 0.85 miles and drops roughly 375 vertical feet through 16 turns. The steepest section reaches a 15 percent grade, and Olympic bobsleds can approach 87 mph on the track.
Even the facility’s summertime wheel bobs, which are specifically designed to run on the dry track, can reach around 62 mph while putting passengers through forces approaching 3G.
Backe Has Done This Before
The bobsled track has become something of a playground for Backe. In 2019, he dropped into the same course on cross country skis while it was covered in rock-hard ice.
Unofficial Networks covered that run, when Backe explained that once he dropped in it was a full commitment type scenario:
“With rock solid ice from the top to bottom there is no possibility to slow down or stop. It is basically a no regrets situation.”
This Is Pretty Normal by Anders Backe Standards
Backe has spent much of his professional ski career turning places that were never intended to be ski terrain into ski terrain.
The Norwegian became a professional freeskier in 2006 after growing up skiing and ski jumping in Vikersund. He competed in events including the Winter X Games before shifting much of his attention toward filming and unusual ski projects.
Those projects have included skiing a rail on the chimney of a moving cruise ship, jumping over the globe monument at Norway’s North Cape and skiing backwards through other decidedly nontraditional terrain.
Backe also holds the Guinness World Record for fastest switch (backwards) downhill skiing. In March 2024, he reached 82.92 mph while skiing switch down the massive ski flying hill in his hometown of Vikersund. He started forward, launched from the jump, rotated 180 degrees and continued down the landing hill backwards.
Compared with going nearly 83 mph backwards on skis, ripping Olympic bobsled track fully padded up on roller skis apparently seemed reasonable but don’t get it twisted, this could have gone sideways quick.
