Quebec (QC), Canada – A new report issued by International Ski Federation (FIS) course designer Bernhard Russi on Monday has cast additional doubt on Quebec’s proposal to host an Olympic Winter Games.nRussi’s report indicates that ski facilities surrounding Quebec City aren’t up to the task of hosting an Olympic-caliber downhill. Similar criticisms resulted in the 2002 Olympics being awarded to Salt Lake City, Utah over Quebec.

For their 2002 bid, Quebec Olympic officials proposed various solutions, including an elevated start ramp or building a finish platform on the St. Lawrence River to provide the minimum necessary 800 meters of vertical drop to stage a downhill race on Cap Maillard at Le Massif de Charlevoix ski area. Russi’s report this week criticized a mid-mountain flat section on the route descending Mont à Liguori at Le Massif that’s part of the current Olympic proposal to host the 2022 or 2026 Winter Games. Mont à Liguori’s vertical drop, while just shy of 800 meters, is much closer to the requirement than the course proposed on Cap Maillard.

Russi paid a visit to the Mont à Liguori site Nov. 30 in preparation for his final report, which criticized the lack of difficulty of the proposed downhill course.

“There is a very, very flat part on which we cannot hold a downhill,” FIS president Gian Franco Kasper told Quebec City’s Le Soleil newspaper. “We obviously can’t remake the entire mountain.”

Quebec Mayor Régis Labeaume previously indicated that his city would likely abandon their bid effort if the FIS report was not supportive.