Pushback from Athletes Sparks Reevaluation
FIS officers have proposed key changes to the 2025–26 World Cup calendar following robust criticism from athletes and nationwide ski federations—particularly relating to the lads’s schedule. The preliminary draft, created on the FIS Spring Assembly in Vilamoura, Portugal, featured solely seven males’s downhill races, prompting pushback from prime skiers together with total World Cup champion Marco Odermatt.
Downhill specialists throughout a number of nations voiced frustration over the imbalance. With ten super-Gs, 9 big slaloms, and eleven slaloms initially scheduled, the downhill self-discipline—the premier take a look at of velocity in Alpine snowboarding—appeared underrepresented. That imbalance triggered renewed discussions and gives to revise this system.
Swiss Ski and Crans Montana Lead Changes
In response, Swiss Ski and the organizers in Crans Montana stepped ahead with a revised proposal. Their plan would regulate each the lads’s and ladies’s World Cup occasions on the Swiss resort.
On the ladies’s aspect, the Crans Montana super-G initially slated for February 1 will now transfer to January 31, whereas the January 30 downhill on Mont Lachaux stays unchanged.
The larger shift comes on the lads’s aspect. Crans Montana’s January 31 males’s super-G will convert right into a downhill and shift to February 1. As well as, a second downhill has been added to Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey weekend. These strikes mirror a transparent intent to fulfill the wants of downhill athletes and handle issues about self-discipline fairness.
Extra Downhill Races for the Males’s Tour
The up to date plan additionally clarifies the vacation interval. No World Cup races will probably be held in Bormio in 2026, because the Italian resort will host the Olympic Alpine occasions in February. Nonetheless, a males’s super-G has been added in Livigno, Italy, on December 27, serving to to keep up the variety of early-season velocity races.
If the FIS Council approves the proposal on June 12, the revised males’s calendar will function:
9 downhill races
9 super-G races
9 big slaloms
11 slaloms
This adjustment restores a extra balanced distribution between velocity and technical disciplines and displays rising efforts by stakeholders to prioritize equity and athlete suggestions within the World Cup construction.
Key Revisions in Proposed Calendar Deal with Downhill Issues
Girls
For the ladies, the Crans Montana super-G has been moved as much as January 31, at some point sooner than initially scheduled, whereas the January 30 downhill stays unchanged.
Males
On the lads’s aspect, important changes are deliberate for the Beaver Creek cease, with a further downhill added on December 4. This expands the Birds of Prey weekend to incorporate two downhills (December 4 and 5), a super-G (December 6), and a large slalom (December 7).
One other key replace contains the scheduling of a super-G in Livigno, Italy, on December 27, clarifying each venue and timing.
Lastly, Crans Montana’s January 31 males’s super-G has been changed with a downhill now set for February 1. If authorised, these adjustments would convey the lads’s downhill depend to 9 and supply a extra even race distribution throughout disciplines.
Newest Draft Earlier than Recommended Revisions:
