Alpine main updates from the Portorož (SLO) Spring Committee meetings

While the snow has continued to show its face in recent weeks, the annual FIS Spring Meeting offered the perfect setting for spring conditions. The annual event took place in the charming Slovenian resort of Portorož. 

The week’s highlight came Wednesday when the Alpine Skiing World Cup Sub-Committee and Committee members met to deliberate on the coming season’s nuances, prospects and alpine prowess.

Audi FIS Ski World Cup Calendars 2024-2025

While the 2024-2025 calendars had already been revealed to the National Ski Associations, the provisional calendars for the coming season were again presented to all in the room with great delight. 

The calendar will be woven with some returning competition venues, with venues making their grand debut, and not forgetting the venerable traditions that thrill us every year. 

The highlight of the coming season will be the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, from February 04 to 16. Having hosted the World Cup finals last March, the organisers have shown us that the venue is ready to welcome the world's best athletes for two weeks of competitions already shaping up to be full of excitement and surprises. 

Regarding the World Cup calendar, the inaugural Opening World Cup weekend in Soelden (AUT) will again occur on the last weekend of October, followed by two further weekends of competition. The Men's and Women's tours will continue to rub shoulders for two more weekends before going their separate ways until the World Championships. 

To the delight of Levi (FIN), the boys will make their return to the "Black-Levi" slope on Sunday, November 17, the day after the women's race. 

The same goes for Gurgl (AUT), which had a successful first slalom last winter, with the Austrian trio (Feller, Schwarz, Matt) winning. The women will open the dances on Saturday, the 23rd, while the men will close the weekend. 

As usual, the teams will head to North America and Canada. A semi-new feature on the women's calendar will be a Downhill and a Super-G on the Birds of Prey slope in Beaver Creek (USA), following the traditional men's weekend.

The World Cup will continue the traditional circuit with a few exceptions. Madonna di Campiglio (ITA) has been moved to after the end of the year instead of before Christmas, and the same applies to the women's night slalom in Courchevel (FRA), which will be scheduled at the end of January before the most important event of the season. 

Once the World Championships are over, it will be time to consider the next World Championships in 2027 in Crans-Montana (SUI). The men’s speed skiers will travel to the Swiss plateau for two-speed events to test the as-yet-unknown men’s slope. 

As for the continuation of the season after the World Championships, there are a few changes and, therefore a few returns in the Calendar, such as Sestriere (ITA) and La Thuile (ITA), respectively, before and after the Scandinavian blockade. 

The men’s side will again see a new venue on the calendar for the last weekend before the finals. The World Cup Tour will spend not one but two weekends in Norway, with the arrival of Hafjell, which will include a technical weekend. 

The World Cup finals, hosted by Sun Valley (USA), will occur in one week, from the 22nd to the 27th of March.

Safety

Airbags compulsory for Downhill and Super-G from 2024/25

Airbags will be mandatory for World Cup, World Championship, and Olympic Games speed competitions starting next season. 

Airbags have proven to be a valuable measure of increasing the safety of athletes in speed races.

Initially developed for motorcyclists, the design was adapted to function for skiers. A system of sensors with three accelerometers and three gyroscopes in communication with GPS at 1,000 times per second determines when a skier is about to crash and activates the airbag.

Implementation of cut-resistant undergarments

A proposal has been made to strongly recommend cutting-resistant undergarments for all disciplines at all levels. The goal is to make their use compulsory from the 2025/26 season. Further, protective zones will be defined until spring 2025.

Candidates for the 2029 FIS World Championships 

As it was announced in May 2023, there will be three candidates vying for the 2029 World Championships bid: Soldeu (AND), Val Gardena (ITA) and Narvik (NOR). It’s the second application for the Alpine candidates of Narvik and Soldeu, while Val Gardena is a first-time candidate. 

On June 4th at the 55th International Ski Congress in Reykjavik (ISL), each candidate will make their final presentation to the FIS Council, which will then elect the Organisers of the Alpine FIS World Championships 2029.

All the proposals mentioned above are subject to the approval of the FIS Council.