EDITORIAL
Crans-Montana is confidently aiming for
the 2027 World Championships
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The board of the International Ski Federation (FIS) decided on 3 October 2020 that Crans-Montana/Valais would not be hosting the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 2025. The bid committee had anticipated this decision, and in agreement with Swiss-Ski, announced that it would immediately be launching into the race for the 2027 World Championships.
Unsurprisingly, the FIS awarded the 2025 Alpine World Ski Championships to Saalbach-Hinterglemm. It was not a defeat for Crans-Montana, as it was Austria’s turn. Crans-Montana fulfilled all the requirements in the bidding process. The reason that the Valais resort was not selected to host the 2025 World Championships is not due to the quality of its bid, but rather to the “political component”, as the Swiss-Ski president Dr. Urs Lehmann points out. “The timescale and rotation of countries and continents has to be taken into consideration”, says the former downhill world champion, who is also the vice-president of the World Championships bid committee.
“We are very confident that the members of the FIS council are keen to come to Crans-Montana in 2027 for a wonderful festival of skiing“, Marius Robyr, executive director of the candidature, is convinced. The possibility of the World Championships taking place on the Haut-Plateau in the near future, which would be the second time since 1987, is backed up by a solid bid. Positive and promising feedback was received from the group of FIS experts, and several key figures in the Federation welcomed a bid dossier that was judged to be complete and meticulously prepared. The online presentation to the FIS Council by skier Michelle Gisin also received a warm welcome. The 2018 Olympic alpine combined champion, and ambassador for the Crans-Montana/Valais bid, emphasised that the World Championships are a great opportunity to get young people into snow sports”.
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“Our bid for 2027 will be submitted to the FIS in April 2021 (the vote for the host resort for the 2027 World Championships will take place in May 2022), but the campaign is already well underway,” explains Hugo Steinegger, deputy executive director of the bid committee. “Now we will have to move from paper to reality. The first phase of work in the finish area has already begun, with the demolition of the old Cisalpin hotel”. A working group called Barzettes 2025, respectively 2027, made up of representatives from the municipality of Crans-Montana, the CMA ski lifts, Crans-Montana Tourism and the bid committee, is working on the development of the area in question and the new multipurpose stadium. Without the latter, the Crans-Montana bid would have no chance of success.
Hugo Steinegger continues: "We have to be clear: without new infrastructure, we won’t be in the running. Even the World Cup races would be under threat in a few years’ time. The stadium and the pistes are therefore at the heart of our World Cup bid. This is why we have to push ahead with the project for the new finish stadium building as part of the overall project. We have to move forward. The construction of the stadium will also serve as a starting point for other projects". For Crans-Montana, it is now a matter of finding the developer and obtaining building permits. 2022 and 2023 are considered to be the right time for the construction of this new stadium.
Federal councillor Viola Amherd emphasises: “Crans-Montana has always been able to show its talent and experience as a host for competitions of all sizes. This is why Crans-Montana is the ideal venue for the 2027 World Championships, 40 years after the unforgettable 1987 World Championships,” added the Swiss Minister of Sport.