The Whistler Sliding Centre is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in the Fitzsimmons Creek valley in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada located 125 kilometres (78 mi) north of Vancouver. Located on the lowermost slopes of Blackcomb Mountain, one of two ski mountains forming the Whistler Blackcomb resort, this venue will host the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions for the 2010 Winter Olympics which are being co-hosted by Vancouver and the Resort Municipality of Whistler. On 21 February 2009 during the 2008-09 Luge World Cup season finale, the track had the fastest registered speed in luge when Germany's Felix Loch recorded 153.98 km/h (95.68 mph).

In 2003, Vancouver was chosen for the 2010 Winter Olympics over Pyongchang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. On 15 November 2004, it was announced that Stantec Architecture Limited, who designed the 2002 Winter Olympic bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Park City, Utah in the United States, would provide detail design and site master plan of the track. Site construction of the facility began on 1 June 2005 following environmental approval from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Construction site safety and security was put in place at that time. During its construction peak in the summer of 2006, there were over 500 workers involved both in the Sliding Centre and at the Whistler Nordic Venue (now Whistler Olympic Park). A core group of 60 workers was involved with track construction from June 2005 to December 2007.

Basic track construction was completed in November 2007 though fit-out and testing continued into 2008. The first run took place on 19 December 2007 with Canadian bobsledder Pierre Lueders and his brakeman Justin Kripps starting at the Junior Start house, located 520 meters down the 1450 meter track. A total of six runs were made under the auspices of the International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT).

First tests of the track for luge occurred in the last weeks of February 2008 with the Canadian Luge Association opening a branch at the track. Among the luge participants were Tatjana Hüfner, David Möller (both Germany), Tony Benshoof, Erin Hamlin, Christian Niccum, Dan Joye (all from United States), Armin Zöggeler (Italy), Markus Schiegl, Tobias Schiegl (both Austria), Jeff Christie, Ian Cockerline, Samuel Edney, Regan Lauscher, Meaghan Simister, Chris Moffat, and Mike Moffat (all Canada). Bobsleigh participants included André Lange, Sandra Kiriasis (both Germany), Alexandre Zoubkov (Russia), Lueders, Lyndon Rush, Helen Upperton, Lisa Szabon (all from Canada), and Shauna Rohbock (United States) while skeleton participants included Kristan Bromley (Great Britain), Katie Uhlaender, Zach Lund (both United States), Kerstin Juergens (Germany), John Montgomery, Jeff Pain, Michelle Kelly, and Lindsay Alcock (all from Canada).

Over 200 runs were taken from six different starting positions on the track. Praise was given both by the FIBT and the International Luge Federation (FIL) over the successful homologation of the track. VANOC, the Olympic Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympics, reviewed the recommendations made from both the FIBT and the FIL in order to fine tune the track.

Canadian teams continued testing and training at the track until March 20, 2008. Lueders of Canada commented that the track "...[is] definitely the fastest ...in the world and that's what makes it so difficult" while Kelly of Canada concurred with "...any loss of concentration ...[can get you]...in trouble because it is technical as well." Final track inspection by the FIL Executive Board took place 25-27 September 2008.

International Training Week for luge took place 7-15 November 2008 at the track to get sliders familiarized with the track. Several injuries occurred during the training, most notably Germany's Felix Loch, the defending men's singles world champion, injured his shoulder. In a 9 December 2008 press release, the Centre was continuing homologation on a crash barrier and protection against weather.

FIL President Josef Fendt of Germany expressed concern of the track's top speed being 149 km/h (93 mph) stating that it was too fast. Of the 2500 runs executed during International Training week for luge, there were 73 crashes, a crash rate of 3 percent which is normal during the testing of new tracks. Three lugers, including Loch, were sent to the hospital, but later released.

Italy's Zöggeler stated that the "...track can be tackled." and "...doesn't see big problems for the athletes" while Fendt called for the top track speed for future tracks to be reduced to 135 or 136 km/h (84 or 85 mph) where possible, criticzing Whistler's track designers for such a leap in top speed. After the World Cup event on 20-21 February 2009, Austria's Andreas Linger described the track as "...fast, incredibly fast." Germany's Loch stated that the men's singles luge speeds reach 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) by the time you reach the women's singles and men's doubles start house. A total of 2818 runs for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton were made at the track during the four week time period for the World Cup events.

FIL President Fendt stated that "...[his] technical delegate told me this week that the ...[2010 Winter Olympics] ...could start tomorrow and the track would be ready. I appreciate the whole Whistler Sliding Centre." 135 athletes participated in the 2008-09 World Cup season finale (67 men, 42 women, and 26 doubles).

A second International Training Week took place at the Centre on 9-15 November 2009 in preparation for the 2010 Games with 156 athletes from 27 nations taking place. Germany's Hüfner stated that the goal for this test is to "...scrutinize the ideal racing line and the right sled configuration for this track." A training restriction went into effect on 31 December 2009 where only host nation Canada along with athletes from developing nations were allowed to train prior to 2010 Games. Team Canada (luge) did not participate in the World Cup event in Lillehammer, Norway during 12-13 December 2009 to training at the Sliding Centre and for the Canadian National Championships that took place on 17 December 2009.

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