Tokyo Workshops Aim to Send Their Bobsleigh to Winter Olympics, Where They Can Show Their Machining Skills to the World

By Kohei Tsukamoto / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

7:00 JST, March 1, 2025

With just under a year to go until the Winter Olympics in Italy, athletes are working to secure their spot in the Games. Workshops in Ota Ward, Tokyo, also are aiming to have a bobsleigh they made together used in Olympics for the first time.

Those involved in the Shitamachi Bobsled Project, launched in 2011 to showcase the machining skill of the small businesses in the ward, are working with an Italian athlete to further improve the sled in the hopes that it will be taken to the Olympics after they failed to get it in three times before.

Showcasing technical prowess

At the IBSF World Cup in Germany in January, two Italian men were shooting down an ice track in a bright red sled that bore the words “shitamachi bobsled” in Japanese on its body. The man in the front of the sled was Mattia Variola, 29. The duo placed 19th at the competition.

In bobsleigh events, athletes steer a steel sled down a curving track of ice, competing to finish the route in the fastest time. Reaching speeds of 150 kph, the sport has been called “Formula 1 on ice.”

The two-person sled is about 3 meters long and weighs about 160 kilograms. It is made with around 150 parts.

“We have succeeded in making a good sled by solving our problems one by one. I want to see it go down an Olympic track at the next Games,” said Kotaro Kurosaka, 55, who leads the project of 150 member companies.

4th attempt

It was just before the 2022 Beijing Games that the project started providing Variola with their sled.

Previously, a sled they had made by pooling their expertise in cutting and polishing was used by Japanese and Jamaican national teams. However, the vehicle was not adopted for the 2014 Sochi and 2018 Pyeongchang Games partly because it was considered inferior to sleds made in other countries.

Although the project members gave it another try with the Beijing Olympics, Variola failed to qualify for the games. But, according to Kurosaka, no company left the project as they were determined to send their sled to Olympics.

Variola had a number of requests for the project team while he was taking part in the bobsleigh world cup. He asked that the sled be made easier to control, and that there be less vibration.

Kurosaka said companies were quick to respond, making the necessary parts.

Anxious but hopeful

ST Seiko, a firm with four employees in Ota Ward’s Nishikojiya district, was responsible for the parts used for the bottom of the sled. The company’s usual business is processing parts for printing machines and medical equipment.

Company employee Ikumi Takai, 28, who shaved down by a hundredth of a millimeter a part for the sled that has a diameter of 4.5 centimeters, said he feels excited about the possibility of the bobsleigh taking part in the Olympics.

Although it is difficult for project members to watch the world cup in person, they always feverishly check competitions live online.

Men will race as teams of two or four, while women will race either alone or with a single teammate at the Milan-Cortina Games. A total of 170 men and women athletes will compete on their bobsleighs in the Olympics.

Who gets to compete in the Games next year will be decided based on athletes’ performance in the world cup and other events held up until the very last minute before the Olympics.

“I sincerely hope that our sled will help the Italian team win a ticket to the Olympics,” said Kurosaka, who plans to provide more new parts to the Italian team.