U.S. Hosting Seven World Cup Events In 2019-20 Season
Following the conclusion of the International Ski Federation (FIS) Council Meetings, the 2019-20 competition calendar for all ski and snowboard sports that fall under the jurisdiction of FIS has been announced. For U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in America, this means that the following event dates are now confirmed:
ALPINE
First up is the HomeLight Killington Cup, taking place November 30-December 1, 2019, Thanksgiving weekend, and once again bringing the best women’s technical alpine skiers in the world together with entertaining concerts, movie screenings and more. This will mark the fourth year Killington has hosted the World Cup, and with spectator numbers peaking at 40,000 last year, “The Beast of the East” has been solidified as the perfect venue for World Cup alpine ski racing to continue on the East coast.
The following weekend, the event ranked as the number one overall stop on the World Cup tour by the athletes and coaches, the Xfinity Birds of Prey FIS Ski World Cup at Beaver Creek super-G, downhill, and giant slalom races are scheduled for December 6-8, 2019. The festivities of the week celebrate “Where Winter Begins” in North America and include live music, beer tastings, ski films, parties, sponsor activation and much more in the heart of Beaver Creek Village on what is dubbed “Birds of Prey Way.”
CROSS COUNTRY
A major highlight of the FIS Cross Country World Cup season on American soil will be the Fastenal Parallel 45 Winter Festival, taking place over four days in March 2020, including a music festival, extreme spectator events, panel discussions, and culminating with the first FIS Cross Country World Cup event held in the U.S. in 19 years. The event, a freestyle sprint on Tuesday, March 17 will also be included in a mini-sprint tour combined with Quebec City from the previous weekend, and is expected to attract tens of thousands of fans to support the U.S. Cross Country Team whose reputation continues to grow since Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall’s historic first Olympic cross country gold medal in South Korea in February 2018.
FREESKI & SNOWBOARD
Freeski and snowboard athletes from around the world will unite to kick off the FIS World Cup halfpipe season at Copper Mountain, Colo., December 11-14. The 2019 U.S. Grand Prix at Copper will mark eleven years of collaboration hosting events between U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Copper Mountain. In addition, skiers and riders will head to Mammoth Mountain, Calif., an official training site of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, from January 29-February 1 to compete in slopestyle and halfpipe World Cup competition in Mammoth’s acclaimed Unbound Terrain Park. Additionally, a major freeski and snowboard World Cup event will be added to the U.S. calendar in the coming weeks as details are solidified.
FREESTYLE
The Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort will take place February 6-8, 2020, marking 20 years of elite freestyle competition for the lauded freestyle skiing World Cup stop, a favorite among athletes and spectators. Three nights of competition, including moguls, aerials and dual moguls, will take place under the lights at night as thousands of fans gather beneath the competition venues.
“Fans of ski and snowboard sports have a lot to look forward to in the coming season, especially here in the US,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw. “We have the Cross Country World Cup coming back to America for the first time in nearly 20 years with the event in Minneapolis in March. That is going to be an awesome event, giving Jessie Diggins, Sophie Caldwell, Sadie Bjornsen and their teammates the opportunity to race at World Cup level on home soil for the first time in their careers, in front of thousands of people.
"The calendar also confirms the dates of the Killington World Cup alpine event, Mikaela Shiffrin’s home race and the best-attended race on the women’s World Cup calendar, and the mighty Beaver Creek Birds of Prey World Cup, one of the greatest tests for the men in their alpine season," Shaw added. "Also, the freestyle night events at Deer Valley will be taking place in what is now firmly established as the showcase for moguls and aerials competition worldwide. Finally, we have more news to come about a very exciting event our team is working on for freeski and snowboard athletes. Stay tuned for more details on that. Overall, we have so much to look forward to - bring on the winter!"
