FIS World Ski Champs Set U.S. Record

(ATR) The International Ski Federation says it's glad that Vail/Beaver Creek hosted the alpine world championships.

The 15-day event concluded on Sunday in the Colorado resort, setting a record record attendance for a U.S. based ski event. It was the first FIS alpine champs in the U.S. since 1999.

Skiers from nearly 70 nations took part with mostly cooperative weather. The competitors say they were more than satisfied with the courses and organization surrounding the showcase event.

United States Ski Team president and CEO Tiger Shaw, who competed at the 1989 world championships in Vail, boldly praised the 2015 event.

"Vail has done an amazing job of making these the best world champs ever and arguably better than any Olympic alpine events that have ever been," Shaw told Around the Rings during Friday’s men’s giant slalom.

At the closing news conference, Vail/Beaver Creek 2015 Organizing Committee president Ceil Folz and FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis both lauded the U.S. championships.

"We feel honored and blessed to have been able to enjoy two week of really good competition," said Folz, who also led the operations department at the 1999 championships in Vail. "Our courses have held up in warm February temperatures."

"We feel the most important part of the world championships are that the competitions are fair and safe and that we know, we’ve delivered," Ceil said.

Lewis echoed similar thoughts about the fortnight of ski racing in the Colorado Rockies.

"They certainly have exceeded our expectations," Lewis said.

"The commitment we’ve had from Beaver Creek and Vail, and their respective towns, and how they have worked hand in hand with the organizing committee and the USSA have been very important to spread the word of alpine ski racing in America and the world."

Attendance totals for the eleven races contested reached an estimated 125,000 spectators. An additional 85,000 spectators showed up for the opening ceremony, medal ceremonies and free nightly concerts in Vail.

Lewis said the two biggest takeaways from the championships were the record crowds and the approximate 2,500 volunteers.

"They’ve come in huge numbers and had fantastic support from everyone from all nations," Lewis said. "And the absolutely fantastic volunteers – they’ve been the heart and soul of these Championships."

Most races took place under sunny and unseasonably mild warm weather, with temperatures occasionally exceeding ten degrees Celsius. FIS race staff and the Talons Race Crew worked to overtime to keep sun-baked courses race ready.

Only the men’s super-G, initially scheduled for Feb. 4, had to be postponed due to snowfall and lack of visibility. It was successfully fit into the schedule the next day.

Most competitors had positive feedback regarding their overall experience at Vail/Beaver Creek, a venue which is also an annual stop on the World Cup tour.

"It’s so much fun racing here in the States, the courses are good, people are friendly and everything is organized fine," said Russian skier Alexander Glebov. "It’s really nice to be here and enjoy this event."

International Coverage Raises the Bar

With 70 hours of live international coverage over 14 days, viewership of the Championships is estimated to have exceeded 800 million worldwide.

Fifteen international broadcasters had facilities, crews, and live production capability onsite.

Considering the eight hour time difference between Colorado and central Europe, the World Championships were seen live in primetime overseas.

According to Ingo Hanneson of the European Broadcast Union, key production elements included super slow motion cameras shooting at 2,500 frames per second, two cable cams, including one 757 meters long, and a large and experienced camera crew.

Two-hundred camera positions were used during the 11 events, including 45 for the showcase men’s downhill.

"They have checked and explored more than 200 different camera positions, finding the best camera positions for each event," Hanneson said. "This will leave a legacy for years to come."

USSA Successful with Domestic TV Coverage

In an unprecedented endeavor, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association owned, oversaw and distributed the domestic rights for the home races.

Some 38 hours from Vail/Beaver Creek were broadcast across the NBC Sports networks with total viewership in the ballpark of 10 million viewers.

"It has grown the sport in the U.S. with the coverage of NBC Sports, NBC Sports Network, Universal Sports and also the general press," Shaw said of the domestic coverage, much of it seen live.

Although not all achieved the same level of success at the championships, Olympic medalists Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Ted Ligety, Mikaela Shiffrin and Julia Mancuso broadened interest in the States.

"People are aware of the world championships happening in the United States and that hasn’t always been the case in the past."

Austria Ahead of U.S. in Medal Tally

Despite the U.S. hosts finishing the championships strong – winning two events over the final three days of competitions – Austrian was tops in the medal table, claiming 9 medals in 11 events, including 5 gold.

Austrian stars and defending overall World Cup champions Marcel Hirscher and Anna Fenninger both skied to two gold medals.

U.S. racers Ted Ligety (giant slalom) and Mikaela Shiffrin (slalom) followed up with victories in the same events that they won Olympic gold in Sochi. The U.S. finished second overall to Austria in total medals with five.

Slovenian Tina Maze was the biggest standout of the Championships, winning gold in each of her first three events, before coming up just short in her final two races, including the Nations Team Event. According to IOC president Thomas Bach, who came to the open of the championships, the team event is edging closer to Olympic inclusion.

The 2017 Alpine Ski World Championships return to St. Moritz, Switzerland, site of the 1928 and 1948 Olympics.

Written by Written by Brian Pinelli in Vail/Beaver Creek.