A relay of champions carries the WWG torch

On Tuesday 19 March, the World Winter Games flame will depart Aosta, Italy, (site of the 2010 Games), en route to Annecy, France. On the epic six-day journey, every possible means of high-altitude transportation will be used to convey the symbolic torch over Mont-Blanc and past all the Annecy 2013 competition venues. Two of the biggest names in French skiing will then carry the flame into Annecy for the opening ceremony of the Games on 25 March at 18:00.

Tuesday 19 March at 11:30: Italian authorities will light the flame of the World Winter Games in Aosta at Piazza Chanoux. Italian and French officials will be joined by Vincent Vittoz, Annecy 2013 vice president, and Italy’s Marco Albarello, Olympic and world cross-country skiing champion, in a ceremony that symbolizes the passing of the torch between the two cities. Italian athletes—on skis and on foot—will then set off through the Aosta Valley with the torch.

Wednesday 20 March: As the procession heads toward Courmayeur, the flame will be carried by cross-country skiers, runners, and speed skaters, including Italy’s Mara Zini, Olympic short track medalist.

Thursday morning 21 March: High mountain military units from both nations will rendezvous on Mont-Blanc at Col du Toulaz, where the Italians will hand the flame over to the French. It will be conveyed (on touring and alpine skis) over Arête des Cosmiques before it then takes flight—by paraglider—for the world’s mountaineering capital, Chamonix, where afternoon festivities will bring the streets of the resort town to life.

Friday 22 March: Other torchbearers from high mountain military units will make their way on touring skis from Chamonix to Flaine, by way of Col du Brévent, arriving in late afternoon at the resort where more festivities will take place.

Saturday 23 March: The trek will continue, with the flame carried by an airborne speed rider streaking over the Bouchet Valley, then by a dogsled team. Once in Le Grand Bornand, it will be turned over to Roddy Darragon—a homegrown champion who captured France’s first Olympic medal in cross-country skiing at the Turin 2006 Games—at Glisse en cœur, a benefit event. Next, the flame will be taken by cross-country skiers over Plateau des Confins, arriving in La Clusaz for a torchlight parade of French Ski School instructors.

Sunday 24 March: The flame will traverse Lake Annecy by canoe from Talloires, arriving on the left bank where it will again take to the air by paraglider, with Seynod as its destination.

Monday 25 March: The flame will be borne on foot for its final leg, arriving at the site of the opening ceremony in Annecy at 18:00. A crowd of several thousand spectators is expected on the shore of Lake Annecy, where the World Winter Games will begin in a magnificent free ceremony featuring fireworks. Two of the biggest names in French skiing will light the WWG cauldron. Shaped like a hunting horn (emblem of the Chasseurs Alpin), this impressive vessel was designed and produced by Hydrostadium, an Annecy-based hydroelectrical engineering company.

After the opening ceremony, the flame and cauldron will be displayed at the Games Village in the center of Annecy, where late afternoon medal ceremonies will be held all week. The Games Village will also host a variety of other activities for the public.

For more information contact: media@annecy2013.com

Alexandra Carraz

Mob. +33 6 2286-7312

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