Bobsledding doesn’t have a single universally agreed-on “sole inventor,” but its origins are strongly tied to late‑19th‑century Switzerland, especially the resort town of St. Moritz.

Quick Scoop

  • The sport grew out of traditional sledding in northern countries, then evolved into organized downhill racing on icy tracks in the late 1800s.
  • Many modern accounts credit Swiss hotelier Caspar Badrutt with kick‑starting bobsledding as a winter pastime for his upscale guests in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
  • Around the same era (late 1800s–1890s), multi‑person, steered sleds began appearing in places like Albany, New York, and in European resorts, helping shape the early “bobsled” design.
  • Because these developments happened in several places at once, historians often say bobsledding emerged rather than being cleanly “invented” by one person.

So, who “invented” bobsledding?

If you need one name for “who invented bobsledding,” the most commonly cited figure is Caspar Badrutt , the Swiss hotel owner whose push to entertain winter tourists in St. Moritz helped create and popularize the sport in the late 19th century.

However, some historical summaries argue that early bobsled‑style racing also began around 1897 in Albany, New York , before being refined and popularized in European resorts, which makes the origin story more shared and gradual than a single‑inventor tale.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.