Top Story Replay -- Ski Federation Chiefs Praise World Championship Venues

(ATR) International Ski Federation leaders have given the thumbs-up to venues for the FIS World Championships in alpine and freestyle following final inspection visits to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and Park City, Utah.

FIS president Gian-Franco Kasper and men’s alpine race director Guenther Hujara were among members of a huge delegation which spent two days reviewing preparations at the Bavarian resort that is proposed as a snow sports venue in Munich's 2018 Olympic bid.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen last hosted the FIS event in 1978.

"Garmisch is a classic site on the World Cup on the men’s side and the preparation of the men’s courses was not too difficult," Hujara told ATR. "All is done on the slopes of the Kandahar side, which is the downhill, super-G, giant slalom and team event side."

The German resort, which hosted events at the 1936 Winter Olympics, benefited from holding last season’s World Cup finals in March for both men and women.

One significant change at the upcoming FIS World Championships will be the location of the slalom venue.

"The last slalom races had the finishes at the ski jump stadium but now it is back to where it was before then," said Hujara about the venue which will accommodate up to 50,000 fans.

It is also scheduled to hold the opening and closing ceremonies.

"The Gudiberg [course] had to be adapted to the new design of the tribunes, building a stadium and also giving it the character and atmosphere of a football stadium. There the work and construction is still on."

One other modification concerns the ladies’ downhill. Following last year’s test event, teams and FIS officials agreedto move the start higher up to the Tröglhang section, adding to the difficulty of the course.

"Everything looks quite good," added Hujara. "The Garmisch race courses will be very challenging and we hope the weather cooperates."

The 2011 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships take place from Feb. 7-20, and include 11 medal competitions.

Freestyle World Champs Venue in Utah

Site of the freestyle skiing events at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, Deer Valley Resort along with neighboring Park City Mountain Resort will host the FIS World Championships from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7.

"I’m quite satisfied," FIS freestyle program director, Joe Fitzgerald, told ATR following his recent inspection visit to the Utah resorts.

"They’re dedicated and they have a huge amount of experience."

Deer Valley has hosted World Cup events since 2000 and last hosted the FIS Freestyle World Championships in 2003.

One significant change from previous major competitions will be the addition of a ski cross course, an event which was first contested at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

"It’s a very special design different from the 2002 Olympics," said Fitzgerald.

"We have to move some finish lines around to have ski cross. It’s a very steep run that flows down into the finish. On the left side we have aerials, on the right side we have moguls and the ski cross comes down in between."

"It was a difficult challenge for the course designer to keep the speeds down coming into this massive finish area, which will be very exciting."

While Deer Valley will host the mogul, dual mogul, aerial and ski cross events, Park City Mountain Resort will be home to ski halfpipe, which the FIS has proposed to the IOC for inclusion in the program for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Withreporting from Brian Pinelli

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