Courchevel Sets Up For December World Cup Events. Lengthens Stade Piste By 70m

If Courchevel has a place of honour in the international Alpine ski calendar, it’s largely down to the quality of its stadium.

The Émile-Allais stadium is being refurbished for the 10th edition of the skiing World Cup held on the resort slopes. The run has been remodelled with the addition of a final wall and more dramatic shifts in terrain. It’s been made 70 metres longer, creating an extra 25 metres of vertical drop, and the snow cannons have been modernised.

An unmissable leg on the women’s circuit, Courchevel continues to occupy a stronghold in French Alpine skiing with a run that’s both spectacular and technically challenging. Once again this season, the best Giant Slalom skiers in the world will do battle there: leading the pack, Petra Vlhova (Slovakia) and Tessa Worley (France) are both hoping to take the title from American Mikaela Shiffrin. The Alpine skiing star has two double consecutive wins under her belt (in the Giant and the Slalom) and had the privilege of winning the helmet designed by pop artist David Cintract, a symbol of the Made-in-Courchevel World Cup.

PROGRAMME 

Monday 16th December

• 5pm: Race committee at FACIM
• 6.30pm: Official race bib draw ceremony for the Giant with the competitors in attendance, and major ice-skating show at the Forum ice rink.

Tuesday 17th December – Giant Slalom - Émile-Allais Stadium (Free access)

• 10.30am: Audi FIS Women’s Giant Slalom World Cup, 1st round
• 1.30pm: Audi FIS Women’s Giant Slalom World Cup, 2nd round
• 2.15pm: Flower ceremony in the finish line zone
• 2.45pm: Press conference at La Salle des Arolles (in the Croisette building) with the top 3 competitors

LOCAL CHAMPIONS ON THE SLOPES AT SÖLDEN 

The French A, B and Junior teams boast several athletes trained at the Courchevel Sports Club who will be flying the flag for the resort all over the world this season, with Alexis Pinturault at the front of the pack. Among the women, Doriane Escané will be in the starting gates in Austria, picking up the mantle from Taïna Barioz and Anne-Sophie Barthet, who retired from their impressive careers at the end of last winter.

Alexis Pinturault

• 3 Olympic medals
• 3 World Championship medals
• 1 time world champion in the Super-Combined
• 1 time world champion win by team
• 23 World Cup victories
• 54 World Cup podium positions
• 3 small Crystal Globes in the Super-Combined

The uncontested leader of the French Alpine Skiing team for several winters, the resort’s golden boy will be starting the new season with the aim of bringing home the large Crystal Globe.

Alexis’ results last winter work undeniably in his favour and are just the latest addition to an already impressive track record: winner of the small Crystal Globe and world champion in the Super-Combined, second in the general ranking at the World Cup last winter (2 wins and 8 podium positions) just behind Marcel Hirscher, who has just retired... There’s no doubt whatsoever that once again this winter, Alexis is going to set Courchevel and the whole of France abuzz and come away with some new wins under his belt.

Doriane Escané

• 9 World Cup starts
• U21 French Giant-Slalom Champion in 2018
• 3rd in super G at the U21 French Championships in 2019
• Continuing her top level training, Doriane’s aim now is to earn a place in the French A Team and in the World Cup.

2023 World Championships here we come!

La Saslong in Val Gardena, Le Lauberhorn in Wengen, La Streif in Kitzbühel… and Les Jockeys in Courchevel! But before it joins the exclusive club of legendary runs on the ‘white circus’, the Les Jockeys run that connects La Loze to Le Praz, which will host the Men’s World Championship events, is undergoing refurbishment before its accreditation by the FIS.

Les Jockeys in figures :

• Total length: 3,200 metres
• Average gradient: 30%
• Vertical drop: 940 metres
• Surface area: 233,100 m2

A World Champion in charge of the World Championships

Last April, world-renowned Alpine skier Perrine Pelen (2 world medals and 3 Olympic medals) was elected Director General of the 2023 Courchevel-Méribel Alpine Skiing World Championships Organisation Committee.

A move on the cards for the Sports Club

The Courchevel Sports Club will soon be moving to the foot of the Émile-Allais Stadium to a brand new 4,500m2 building entirely dedicated to sport (completion planned for 2023). It will house the administrative offices, 2 x 500m2 events halls (which can each be turned into sports halls), and a 250m2 club house. This project has been made possible in particular thanks to a generous gift from Jim Ratcliffe, British businessman, sports fan and a partner of the Club where his daughter is a member.

Even more sport : 

• 27th December 2019 : Ladies Night Tour FFS a night-time parallel slalom
• 11th April 2020: Winter Legacy a fun new event combines skiing, music and a party atmosphere 
• 19th April 2020: Dynastar X3 an exceptionnal triathlon comprising cycling, trail and running