Name Ivo Ruegg | Role Bobsledder | |
Born 15 April 1971 (age 52) ( 1971-04-15 ) | ||
Ivo Rüegg 1997-98
Ivo Ruegg (born 15 April 1971) is a Swiss bobsledder who competed between 1996 and 2010. He won five medals at the FIBT World Championships with two golds (Two-man: 2009, Four-man: 2007), two silvers Two-man: 2007, Mixed team: 2009), and a bronze (Mixed team: 2007).
Ruegg grew up in Tuggen and took part in several different sports in his youth, including skiing, gymnastics, athletics, football and ice hockey. He acted as a forerunner for the prestigious Lauberhorn downhill race in Wengen, and also competed in Europa Cup and FIS Tour alpine skiing events before leaving the sport in the early 1990s due to back problems. In addition he competed in steinstossen (stone-throwing) competitions (winning multiple national individual and team titles) and decathlon during the 1990s, breaking the decathlon points record for the canton of Schwyz in 1994 and 1996 and setting a personal best of 7,071 points.
He first tried bobsleigh as a push athlete in 1992, before starting as a driver in 1996 and taking the Swiss junior title the same year and taking two bronze medals at the 1997 Junior World Championship. In his subsequent career he won one bronze and five silver medals in the Bobsleigh European Championship, one World Cup race (a two-man event at Cesana Pariol in 2007) and four Swiss national titles (two in each of the two-man and four man disciplines).
Ruegg competed in two Winter Olympics, earning his best finish of fourth in the two-man event at Vancouver in 2010.
He won the Bobsleigh World Cup championship in the two-man event in 2009-10. In May 2010 he announced his retirement from top-level sporting competition.
Ivo is the nephew of Tony Ruegg and Max Ruegg, the cousin of Ralph Ruegg, and the brother of Reto Ruegg, all of whom were also bobsledders.