After the cancelation of the races in St. Moritz, the Ladies return to competition this weekend in Courchevel (France) with two Giant Slalom Races on 12th - 13th December 2020. For the 9th time, a race will be host in the Émile-Allais Stadium, located in Courchevel 1850 on the Loze sector.
The program in Courchevel will be the following:
Giant Slalom, Saturday, December 12th. 1st run 9:30; 2nd run 12:30 (CET)
Giant Slalom, Sunday, December 13th. 1st run 9:30; 2nd run 12:30 (CET)
Built from scratch in 1946, Courchevel is a French Alps ski resort with four different areas: Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Courchevel 1850. The Courchevel valley also includes the town of La Tania, built as competitors accommodation for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.
Courchevel is part of the Les 3 Vallées, the world’s largest ski area with 7 interconnected resorts (Courchevel, Méribel, Brides-les-Bains, Les Menuires, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, Val Thorens and Orelle) and 600 kilometers of ski runs.
The area originally consisted of three valleys: Saint-Bon, Allues, and Belleville in the Tarentaise, Savoie. The skiing area has since been extended into a 'fourth' valley, the Maurienne valley.
Within the Tarentaise Valley, you find the biggest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. The most well-known of them are the Paradiski (Les Arcs, La Plagne) and the Espace Killy (Val d'Isère and Tignes).
Courchevel and the Région Auvergne Rhône-Alpes have a long tradition of competitive skiing and hosting major international events. It is from this region that 70% of the athletes who are members of the French Alpine Skiing Team and the main competition clubs or champions trainers come from.
In January 1979, Courchevel hosted for the first time an event of the World Cup, a Giant Slalom won by Ingemar Stenmark.
In May 2018, following a vote at the 51st FIS Congress in Costa Navarino, the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships were awarded to Courchevel-Méribel. For the occasion a new, very technical, and challenging Downhill course, L'Éclipse was designed by Bruno Tuaire, director of Courchevel Sports Club, and Hannes Trinkl (FIS).
Last season in Courchevel Federica Brignone gave it all out in the second run to finally secure her first World Cup victory of the season. She finished in a combined time of 2:12.59 to beat Mina Fuerst Holtmann by 0.04 seconds. Wendy Holdener was third (+0.44) with Petra Vlhova and Viktoria Rebensburg tied in fourth by +0.48.
Mina Fuerst Holtmann (NOR) stepped on a World Cup podium for the first time, in her third year on the circuit. It's not a special day just for the Norwegian skier but also for Wendy Holdener (SUI) who trailed Brignone by 0.44 in third for her first career podium in the discipline.
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) failed to match the pace of the leading racers in both runs and finished 1.65 behind in 17th.
In 2018, Mikaela Shiffrin battled through a raging snowstorm on the second run and overcame a 0.08-second deficit to win in Courchevel (FRA). It was also her third consecutive victory at the French resort (one day after she also won the slalom race in Courchevel).
Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany led after the first run and gave Shiffrin tight competition, finishing in second place just 0.14 seconds back for her second podium finish of the season.
Tessa Worley, meanwhile, delighted the French fans simply by starting in the race after suffering a meniscus tear in her knee during a crash in the Lake Louise Super-G. After being cleared by her doctor to return to skiing this week, she made the decision to start her home race and was rewarded with third place for her impressive efforts.
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