Innovations Highlight 2011 World Cup Ski Season

Park City, UT – U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) officials were enthused with a variety of innovations to the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) 2010-11 World Cup schedules which were announced last week. Team alpine ski racing, a city event in Munich and the first moguls event in China are all a part of the action in 2011 as the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup calendars were locked in during its meetings in Turkey. In addition to five different U.S. World Cup stops, several new twists will be added to several of the international tours.n”Some of the steps taken by the respective FIS tour managers in adding new events and sites are positive moves to grow the marketability of our sports,” said USSA Vice President, Athletics Luke Bodensteiner. “Our U.S. World Cups provide an opportunity for us to enhance exposure for the many U.S. athletes who won medals in Vancouver.”

U.S. World Cup stops will include Aspen, Beaver Creek, Denver and Telluride in Colorado, along with Lake Placid, N.Y. In addition, the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships will be held at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, Feb. 2-5.

The Audi FIS Alpine World Cup will then make its annual U.S. stops, setting down first for the Thanksgiving weekend in Aspen Nov. 27-28 where Olympic medalists Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, Calif.) will be on hand to compete for the home crowd. Following up the women will be the annual men’s Audi Birds of Prey race week in Beaver Creek, which just received the bid for 2015 World Championships, providing a showcase for Olympic medalists Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.), Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) and Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, N.Y.).

The LG FIS Snowboard World Cup will return to Telluride Dec. 15-18 with parallel GS, snowboardcross and team SBX events. It will be the only stop on the annual tour for a team SBX event, which was recently approved by the FIS for inclusion in the World Championships. Two-time Olympic champion Seth Wescott (Carrabassett Valley, Maine) and silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) will highlight the field.

Lake Placid will hold its traditional FIS Freestyle World Cup Jan. 21-23 with moguls and aerials, just two weeks before the Feb. 2-5 World Championships in Deer Valley. Among the top contenders will be Olympic moguls champion Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) as well as bronze medalist Bryon Wilson (Missoula, Mont.) and silver medalist in aerials Jeret “Speedy” Peterson (Boise, Idaho). A snowboarding big air World Cup with a ski exhibition will be held Jan. 28 in Denver.

Details on the U.S. World Cup events will be announced in late June and early July.

The 2011 calendars included a host of innovations designed to showcase both new events and feature growing geographical markets.

The alpine season will kick off on its traditional stop in Soelden, Austria, but will feature a nation’s team event that is sure to light the way for excitement the rest of the season. Adding to the fun on the alpine schedule is a city event in Munich. The Munich Olympic Park will play host to this new event on January 2. The men’s tour will also make a first ever stop in Bulgaria.

Cross country is going to see some excitement in 2011 as, for the first time in the Viessmann FIS Cross Country World Cup the season will open with a three-day multi-stage event in Kuusamo, Finland. It will be similar to the highly successful Tour de Ski in January.

The FIS will bring moguls skiing World Cups to the rapidly growing freestyle nation of China for the first time. China has been an integral part of the FIS Freestyle World Cup for many years with aerials.

The LG FIS Snowboard World Cup will begin crowning overall champions in both “speed” (alpine events plus snowboardcross) and freestyle (halfpipe, slopestyle and big air) beginning this coming season. A maximum of six competitions are taken into consideration regardless the event where the results are achieved.

The FIS also made a decision to begin a women’s ski jumping World Cup circuit beginning in 2011-12. The women have been competing at a Continental Cup level since 2004. The FIS has also submitted women’s ski jumping to the International Olympic Committee for consideration for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Women’s ski jumping had overwhelming support at the 2006 FIS Congress.

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