Ski Congress Closes in Turkey with New World Champ Hosts

(ATR) The United States will stage the 2015 Alpine Ski World Championships in 2015, the first time in 15 years.

On Thursday in Antalya, Turkey, International Ski Federation (FIS) president Gian Franco Kasper announced that Beaver Creek/Vail, Colorado was awarded the right to host the 2015 world championships.

The announcement came following four days of lobbying and presentations by bid committees from three contending host cities – Cortina d’Ampezzo, St. Moritz, and the Colorado resort - during this week’s 100th anniversary FIS Ski Congress at the Turkish resort.

With an absolute majority required, the fifteen-member FIS Council elected Beaver Creek/Vail on the first round of voting. They received eight votes, while Cortina tallied four and St. Moritz three.

"We’re thrilled and we went into today believing that we had the votes, but we were really cautious and in some ways surprised," said Ceil Folz, President of the Vail Valley Foundation and Co-chairperson of the 2015 Beaver Creek/Vail Bid Committee. "We couldn’t be happier with the FIS selecting us and we really believe that we will do a great job for them."

"This was a huge decision and truly an emotional one because we had made two previous bids and these are always very competitive and tricky," said USSA President and CEO, Bill Marolt, also a member of the bid committee. "But we had a great bid committee that did super work and this puts us in a position to take some of the momentum that we’ve developed with our Olympic team, focus on World Cups leading up to 2015 and then have a blockbuster World Championships in 2015."

It will be the first time that the Championships are staged in the United States since 1999 when Vail/Beaver Creek last hosted the event. The Vail Valley also played host to the marquee event in 1989 in addition to being an annual stop on the FIS World Cup tour since it’s inception in 1967.

"We’ve had some great racing in Vail since it opened in the early sixties," added Marolt. "It’s just a remarkable group that loves to do this and when you go on the mountain for the annual ‘Birds of Prey’ race you really see that the downhill is so well-prepared from start to finish. It’s so well done, it’s like a piece of art."

Considering the upcoming 2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and 2013 in Schladming, Austria, the 2015 event will end a streak of seven consecutive Championships being held in either Europe or Scandinavia.

"Thatwas a resonating message for us since we decided to bid five years ago and a consistent one throughoutthe process, one that I think the voting members embraced," said Folz about the lengthy drought. "I believe in the end the group really wants to see their sport grow in other places around the world and we’re happy to have it back in North America."

In Antalya, an eighteen-member delegation representing the Beaver Creek/Vail bid conveyed the organizing committee’s theme of engaging the world and bringing excitement globally to the sport of ski racing with an additional focus on environmental sustainability. The successful bid committee is comprised of members from three entities - the Vail Valley Foundation, Vail Resorts and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

Shortly after Thursday’s announcement, Olympic downhill gold medalist and Vail resident, Lindsey Vonn Tweeted and posted on Facebook, "I’m so excited!!!!Congrats to everyone in Vail and for all of your hard work!"

"From the very beginning, Lindsey has been an enormous supporter," said Folz. "At the 1999 World Championships she was a volunteer on the mountain and one of the things that kept her spurring her forward was seeing those racers at such an impressionable age. One of our messages is let’s shape that next Lindsey Vonn. She’s been terrific for us and we look forward to working closely with her to insure that these are the greatest Championships ever."

The Nordic, freestyle/snowboard, and ski flying championships were also awarded.

Falun, Sweden won the bid to host the 2015 FIS Nordic World Championships. Three rounds of voting were necessary to elect the Swedish city over Lahti, Finland eight votes to seven. Zakopane, Poland was eliminated in the second round while Oberstdorf, Germany was voted out in the first.

It will be the fourth time that that Falun, which lies just over 140 miles northwest of Stockholm, will host the event.

Also, Kreischberg/Murau, Austria, the lone candidate, was awarded the 2015 World Freestyle/Snowboard Championships.

It is the first time ever that these two disciplines will be staged together at one site.

"It’s a great opportunity for us to host the first joint world championships in history," said Austrian Ski Association President, Peter Schroecksnadel.

Harrachov, Czech Republic was announced as the host of the 2014 World Ski Flying Championships.

Approximately 1000 delegates from 70 countries attended the congress. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the biennial event. The first was held in Christiana (later renamed Oslo) on February 18th, 1910. The Congress concludes on Saturday.

Written by Brian Pinelli.