Survivor recounts deadly bobsled crash

One of the survivors of a deadly slide down the bobsled run at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary says fences or signs probably wouldn’t have stopped him that night.

Daniel Spalding testified at an inquiry into the deaths of twin brothers Jordan and Evan Caldwell, who were among eight youths who slid down the track on Feb. 6, 2016.

Spalding, now 20, told the inquiry that he had convinced his friends to meet him after church to take a ride down the track where bobsled, skeleton and luge athletes train.

The eight snuck onto the icy track, sped down on plastic sleds and crashed into a metal gate where the bobsled and luge runs converge.

The 17-year-old twins died almost instantly and the others were injured and taken to hospital.

Spalding said the risk of a steep financial penalty or seeing a guard patrolling the area may have stopped him.

“For us, what may have made the biggest difference was if there’s some mention of a big fine or something,” Spalding said Wednesday. “We knew we were trespassing and if there’s a fence, we’re just gonna hop over it.

“If we saw a person, if there was a security officer at the top, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

The inquiry was shown photos earlier this week of the bobsled start house the morning of the accident. The opening was blocked by wheeled blue barricades less than a metre high.

Now, the entrance is blocked entirely by a tall chain-link fence made opaque by black strips woven through and topped with wire. New yellow-and-red warning signs have also been installed at various points.