For the first time in 24 years – and only the fourth time ever – Copper mountain will host WK Ski Racing In November, only nine weeks before the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
Four days of racing starts on Thanksgiving Day. The women will racing slalom and giant slalom, who happen to be the best events for Colorado -resident Mikaela Shiffrin, the Winningest World Cup racer in history. The men will racing gigantic slalom and super-g.
Copper Mountain has only Racing World Cup three times. In 1976 the men and women race three weeks after the Winter Olympics of the Innsbruck, where Rosi Mittermaier van Germany won three medals. Mittermaier then won both ladies races at Copper, who then called the slope where she competed “Rosi’s Run”, a name that still has it.
On two other occasions, Copper Mountain stepped in to organize November Women’s Slalom and Giant Slalom World Cup races after resorts that were planned to organize those races missed suitable snow conditions for racing. In 1999, Copper took races that were planned for Park City, Utah. Two years later it came in for Aspen.
The week after the Copper Mountain Races, the men will race in Beaver Creek, which has been a regular stop since 1997 for men’s, super-g and gigantic slalom.
It is rare for the World Cup to plan men’s and women’s races for four days at the same location. Gigantic slalom and slalom races for women are normally a Thanksgiving -weekend held in Killington, vt., But that resort replaces a lift that serves the race location. The races are expected to return to Killington in 2026, a two -hour drive from Burke Mountain Academy, where Shiffrin went to high school.
“Although I will race on Killington this Thanksgiving, I am so excited that the ski racing from the World Cup to Copper Mountain comes for men and women,” Shifrin said in a press release. “Athletes from all over the world come to copper early in the season, especially and in the spring, to get the best training in the world and racing the best preparation for the world cup. It is so exciting to see copper as a real World Cup race location, and I am especially enthusiastic because it is so close to home. I can sleep in my own bed and my community can come and experience it. “
Although the World Cup racing is rare for Copper Mountain, many Elite Racers are very familiar with the location. Since 2011, Copper Mountain has been working with the US Ski team to offer racing training in the US Ski Team Speed Center in the previous season, while most resorts all over the world have no temperatures and snow-making equipment that are able to get full Downhill tracks bid. Some other countries also train at that location before the Downhill season starts.
The buyer also organizes the American Grand Prix for Elite Halfpipe competitors every year.
“Hosting an Alpine World Cup event in Copper is a natural fit for us,” said Dustin Lyman, president of Copper Mountain and General Manager. “We are recognized as ‘The Athlete’s Mountain’, partly because the elite athletes of the world train and compete at our locations. Now we are delighted to present our exceptional racing location on the world stage.”
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