On 12 February 2010, the day of the Olympic opening ceremonies, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed during a training run while reportedly going 143.3 km/h (89.0 mph).

Safety concerns at Whistler affected the track design for the Sliding Center Sanki that was used for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

At the 115th IOC Session held at Prague in 2003, Vancouver was chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympics over Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria.

[12] Luge tests occurred in late February 2008 and among the participants were Tatjana Hüfner (Germany), Erin Hamlin (United States), Armin Zöggeler (Italy), and Regan Lauscher (Canada).

[12][13] Bobsleigh participants during certification in March 2008 included Sandra Kiriasis (Germany), Lueders (Canada), and Shauna Rohbock (United States) while skeleton participants included Kristan Bromley (Great Britain), Kerstin Jürgens (Szymkowiak since summer 2008 – Germany), and Jon Montgomery (Canada).

[15] The Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) reviewed the recommendations made from both the FIBT and the FIL to fine tune the track.

[16] Final track inspection by the FIL Executive Board took place 25–27 September 2008 before the International Training Week later that year.

[16][18] A total of 2482 runs took place during the training with several injuries occurring, most notably Loch, the 2008 men's singles world champion, who injured his shoulder.

[22] 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.

[23] FIL President Fendt stated that "[my] technical delegate told me this week that the Games could start tomorrow and the track would be ready."

[16] The first bobsleigh and skeleton training week took place on 25–31 January 2009 to prepare for their respective World Cup events on 5–7 February 2009.

[29] These concerns called for the resignation of track director Ed Moffat, father of lugers Chris and Mike, to offer equal runs to all lugers in future events, to have Canada forfeit any extra training runs that were negotiated for the 2014 Winter Olympics, and for the Canadian Luge Association be reprimanded for unethical actions and not providing a safe sliding environment, especially after speeds were 10 mph (16 km/h) higher than expected.

[39] On 12 February 2010, hours before the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili suffered a crash during a training run exiting out of turn 16.

Her teammate Hüfner, who had the fastest speed on the two practice runs at 82.3 mph (132.4 km/h), stated that the new start position "does not help good starters like myself.

"[50] American Erin Hamlin, the 2009 women's singles world champion, stated the track was still demanding even after the distance was lessened from 1,193 to 953 m (3,914 to 3,127 ft) and one was still hitting 80 mph (130 km/h).

[50] During a 14 February 2010 interview with Reuters, FIL Secretary-General Svein Romstad stated that the federation considered cancelling the luge competition in the wake of Kumaritashvili's death two days earlier.

[51] Because of Kumaritashvili's death, the FIL worked with the Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee to make the Russian National Sliding Centre in Rzhanaya Polyana slower in speed.

[52] On 18 February 2010, FIL President Fendt issued the following statement: "At the conclusion of the luge competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, our thoughts are with the family of Nodar Kumaritashvili.

Tobias tried to correct the oversteer only to have the cousins collide on the opposite side of the ice wall, causing both to go airborne momentarily.

[73] The Associated Press spoke to 13 of the 21 drivers who competed at the two-woman event on 23–24 February 2010 and the only one who did not feel safe on the track was Erin Pac of the United States.

[73] Minor changes were made to the track on 22 February 2010 after bobsleigh four-man teams from Latvia and Croatia rolled over in supplementary practice.

[74] Following a meeting with 11 team captains, practice runs were postponed by the FIBT until later that day to adjust the shape of turn 11 so it would be easier for sleds to get through the rest of the track without crashing.

[74] FIBT spokesman Don Krone also stated that it was common that turn profiles were changed when it was being used by other sliding disciplines such as luge and skeleton.

[74] After track alterations were done on 23 February 2010, the two fastest four-man practice times were done by Germany's Lange and the United States' Steven Holcomb.

[75] Australia withdrew its four-man team on 23 February 2010 after two of its crew members suffered concussions from crashes sustained during track practice.

[74] Australia's chef de mission Ian Chesterman stated that the decision was not taken lightly and was done on the side of safety.

[82] Debate was raised on tightening qualification standards in weeding out unqualified athletes, in requiring a large number of training runs, in slowing down the sliding tracks, or in combining the three.

[82] According to VANOC, over 30,000 runs were made prior to the games with neither the FIBT nor the FIL issuing public danger warnings about the track.

[92] Turn 13 of the Gold Rush Trail was christened "50/50" by American bobsledder Holcomb during the first day of four-man training in February 2009.

The fastest runs set during the 2010 Winter Olympics are not on this list until an issue between the Whistler 2010 Sports Legacies and the FIL is resolved.