The FIBT World Championships 1997 took place in St. Moritz, Switzerland (Bobsleigh) and Lake Placid, New York, United States (Skeleton). St. Moritz hosted a championship event for the record eighteenth time. The Swiss city had hosted the event previously in 1931 (Four-man), 1935 (Four-man), 1937 (Four-man), 1938 (Two-man), 1939 (Two-man), 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1989 (Skeleton), and 1990 (Bobsleigh). Meanwhile, Lake Placid hosted a championship event for the seventh time, doing so previously in 1949, 1961, 1969, 1973, 1978, and 1983.
| 1997 World Championships | |
|---|---|
| Location | St. Moritz, Switzerland Lake Placid, New York |
Two man bobsleigh
edit| Pos | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold |  Switzerland (Reto Götschi, Guido Acklin)
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| Silver |  Italy (Günther Huber, Antonio Tartaglia)
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| Bronze |  United States (Brian Shimer, Robert Olesen)
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Italy earned its first world championships medal since 1971.
Four man bobsleigh
edit| Pos | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold |  Germany (Wolfgang Hoppe, Sven Rühr, René Hannemann, Carsten Embach)
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| Silver | Germany (Dirk Wiese, Christoph Bartsch, Thorsten Voss, Michael Liekmeier)
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| Bronze | United States (Brian Shimer, Chip Minton, Randy Jones, Robert Olesen)
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Men's skeleton
edit| Pos | Athlete | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Gold |  Ryan Davenport (CAN)
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| Silver |  Jim Shea (USA)
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| Bronze | Chris Soule (USA)
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Medal table
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany (GER) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Canada (CAN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Switzerland (SUI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | United States (USA) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (5 entries) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | |