FIS Confirms 17/18 World Cup Venues

[PisteOff]

Just released.....

http://usskiteam.com/news/fis-confirms-us-world-cup-stops-2017-18

2017-18 USA ALPINE AND FREESTYLE WORLD CUP SITES

Killington Resort – Nov. 25-26
After a successful event in 2016, Killington has established itself as one of the premier locations for the women’s alpine World Cup. Owned by U.S. Ski & Snowboard partner POWDR, Killington is one of the premier resorts in the country and close to major eastern metropolitan markets. Powdr has produced World Cup events in the past at other resorts in its portfolio and has significant experience executing large-scale races.

Beaver Creek Resort – Dec. 1-3
Beaver Creek has proven throughout its history of hosting World Cups that it can stand the test of a world premier alpine event. Pulling in viewers from all over the world, it’s home to one of the most difficult downhill courses where skiers face vertical drops as extreme as 757 meters. The events hosted here are many of the American ski racers’ favorite stop on the World Cup tour.

Deer Valley Resort – Jan. 10-12
Home to the 2002 Olympic Winter games, Deer Valley’s elite reputation draws in people to its world class venues. Deer Valley will be the site for moguls and aerials at the 2019 World Championships for freestyle, freeskiing and snowboarding in Park City. The easy access to the mountain pulls in up to 5,000 spectators, making it the biggest stop on the World Cup tour.

Lake Placid – Jan 19-20
As host of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, Lake Placid is another World Cup stop with Olympic ties. The Lake Placid Olympic Jumping Complex and Whiteface Mountain will combine to host moguls and aerials competitions. The Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid is home to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Elite Aerial Development Program, which has produced multiple World Cup champions, including Mac Bohonnon, Kiley McKinnon and Ashley Caldwell.

 

[Started at 53]

@PisteOff

My read on your post says that DV and LP will host Mogul and Aerial competitions, but not the DL, GL SL etc...?

Is that correct or am I reading it wrong?

 

[Philpug]

@PisteOff

My read on your post says that DV and LP will host Mogul and Aerial competitions, but not the DL, GL SL etc...?

Is that correct or am I reading it wrong?

Correct, Lake Placid and Deer Valley are Freestyle events. Beaver Creek and Killington are Alpine.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I'm excited for this. We didn't go last year but definitely will go this year. Grandstand seats at Killington here we come.

 

[Philpug]

Disappointed we aren't going to see Squaw again this year, last years was such a success.

 

[PisteOff]

Disappointed we aren't going to see Squaw again this year, last years was such a success.

And so close to home.......

 

[Muleski]

The main reason that Squaw got a race was because the World Cup Finals were held in Aspen. WCF's in North America is a rarity. Normally, once the tour leaves Lake Louise and Beaver Creek, that's it for NA. And it's the first week in December!

Bit of a Euro focus. Too bad, as we have the ability to do a first class job running events of this size, we tend to have very good snow surfaces {particularly given the time of year at Squaw}, and crowds show up. The athletes like it. In fact they love it.

It would be great to see more. Not holding my breath.

Edit:
But frankly, as much as people hate on the current ownership of Squaw, this is an area where they might have a bit of swing and influence. No bigger ski racing fan and supporter in the US that the KSL CEO. I was going to say in the world, bt that would include Johan Eliasch, the CEO of Head. He would be in a very different league. Ha!

 

[Muleski]

Another factor that I just remembered was that almost all of the women had been in Korea the week before for the test races pre-Olympics. So Squaw was logical on the Korea to Aspen WCF route with a couple of weeks to use. Unique calendar opportunity.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Bit of a Euro focus. Too bad, as we have the ability to do a first class job running events of this size, we tend to have very good snow surfaces {particularly given the time of year at Squaw}, and crowds show up. The athletes like it. In fact they love it.

Look at who holds the reins at FIS Alpine Executive board for clues. While the sub-committee for women's alpine is led by Karen Korfanta (long-time Park City Mountain Resort racing coordinator who basically ran the World Cup and Olympic events at PCMR for years), the overall World Cup coordinator is from Sweden, and the Technical Delegate coordinator is from Germany. And yes, there is a lot of international representation on the Alpine Exec Board, but so many of the "diversity" seats in the Conference are from nations with little alpine racing reputation or infrastructure (e.g. Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Greece, Morocco, Turkey). These members can likely be swayed by the more senior members from the alpine powerhouse nations.

North America has Korfanta and Jeff Weinman (also USA) in "power positions," with Ken Read in charge of Youth and Children's concerns, and Dusan Grasic (Canada, tho a Slovenian by birth). The southern hemisphere has good representation numbers from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile, but the Alpine World Cup hasn't been south of the equator since the 1980s and 1990s (due in no small part to grousing from the Austrians, Germans, Swiss, and French, who were not thrilled to have their summer training interrupted and their top athletes soundly beaten by B-team material from "minor" countries).

Hopefully, the athletes will begin to get a bit more say in the venues and scheduling. Additionally, climate change will likely force the hand of the FIS to include more North American venues with their more reliable and consistent snow. We shall see.

In other news: any thoughts about the fact that half of the women's DH events are taking place at only two venues, Lake Louise and Garmisch-Partenkirchen? I find it highly disappointing, to be honest. I realize it's a cost-saver for teams and provides more rest for the overall contenders, but it seems to neuter the "world" aspect of the World Cup.

 

[Muleski]

In other news: any thoughts about the fact that all the women's DH events are taking place at only two venues, Lake Louise and Garmisch-Partenkirchen? I find it highly disappointing, to be honest. I realize it's a cost-saver for teams and provides more rest for the overall contenders, but it seems to neuter the "world" aspect of the World Cup.

Rudi,

Good points in the post. Agree on all of them, and with respect to the "who is FIS", and reminding us that it's a political body. Many agree that climate change will play into more North American races, due to our elevation and snow. I have heard some European coaches state that it would make great sense for the WC to basically stay in North America through Christmas, then move to Europe, and then wind up in one of a few venues that would be guaranteed to have good snow. Sadly some of the classic European venues are very low elevation and fight snow and weather more each year. Or so it seems. More problematic in December and March.

I think that the facts are that four of the eight women's DH's will be at LL and G-P. Included in that is a two run DH at G-P. We'll still see Val D'Isere, Cortina, B-K. I'm not wild about having half of the schedule at the two locations. And frankly, I have never been a fan of two at LL. I get the schedule and travel, but there should be some bit of tradition in this.

Having these Olympic Games is Korea is a huge "time and energy suck", talking to people who made the trip there this spring. It was exhausting. That's a lot of time zones. And it's very different than familiar stops on the tour. Just zero familiarity. Takes time to recover and acclimate if you're trying to race. Particularly heading west to east. I realize how hard it is to get any country to bid on hosting the Olympics these days. China will be interesting as well when it is their time. No a huge fan these days. And the skiers I know really aren't so fired up about the skiing. Being a part of the whole experience, particularly their first time, absolutely. That part is fun.

I haven't thought through who the schedule may favor. Probably a waste of time. My heavy favorite would be MS, I guess, as it seems like Goggia, Gut, Stuhec, Vonn and Wierather will spilt a lot of speed wins, while MS wins maybe all but one SL, and podiums a bunch in GS. TBD!

 

[Primoz]

@Rudi Riet I would say it's not so much about who WC coordinator or officiall chief race director is (btw... Skaardal is Norwegian, but close enough ), as I honestly doubt Skaardal or Waldner have much to say about which venues will be included or not, but it's more about money... and a bit (or lot) about history. First this last part... FIS and competition skiing was more or less always more Euro thing. You guys get race or two here and there, but that's pretty much it. Skiing WC was, and I have feeling it will always be, more or less Euro thing. Except US and Canada (with more or less success during years) there's basically noone else then (mostly) middle European countries in alpine WC. And this brings to firstly mentioned thing... money. There's no sponsor in WC from anywhere else then middle Europe. Some of them (like Audi) have interest also on other markets around the world (including North America, China etc.), but most of them don't really care about anything else then Europe. Rauch or Emi are one of main sponsors and I have feeling they have no intention to spread into US market (I guess there's simply no way for "little" Euro food company to even be able to provide enough products for US). And with that, it's more important for them to be visible on their target markets then spreading races on continents, where they have no business plans. And I guess top guys at FIS (not WC race directors) rather listen to companies giving them money, then to anyone else. But as always, I could be completely wrong about this
As far as skiers and coaches goes, they are not all that keen on traveling all over the world for day or two of racing. TV interviews are one thing, but privately chatting with this guys with no cameras around gives different picture. And it's pretty understandable. You need to ship few tons of equipment, which means huge logistics issues, to other side of the world, then you lost few days of training each time, and you need to fight with jet lag for next few days, so everyone in this, are not all that happy about this oversea travel as they might look on tv interviews. I completely agree US and Canadian skiers deal with exactly this all year long, but as I wrote before, WC is more or less Euro thing, so noone cares about them... no matter how badly this sounds now, but that's pretty much true.