Two days away from the vote for the venue of the 2027 Alpine Skiing World Championships, the Principality aspires to win the election with a compact national project and innovative proposals never before executed in an event of this size
The announcement, which will take place in Milan this Wednesday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the International Ski Federation’s Annual Congress, can be followed via live-stream on the Andorra Televisió website and from the FIS’ YouTube channel
Andorra la Vella, Monday, 23 May 2022.
Two days. 48 hours until we find out the verdict of the members of the International Ski Federation (FIS) Council which will decide the future venue of the 2027 World Championships. Andorra, the country in the Pyrenees, competes against three big names in skiing: Crans-Montana (Switzerland), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), and Narvik (Norway). It is the second consecutive time that the Swiss and the Germans have put forward their bid to host the flagship event in alpine skiing. In contrast, the Norwegians have made their initial debut as contenders, just as Andorra has done. Comparatively, it is a choice between the first two, which represent skiing as a tradition and solid experience as classic venues in the World Cup calendar, and the Nordics and Andorrans who put forward projects with a more innovative spirit.
The 'D' day, Wednesday, May 25
Allianz Tower in Milan will be the scene of the 53rd Annual Congress of the FIS. A delegation for Andorra led by the general director and the sports director of the Andorra 2027 bid, David Hidalgo and Santi López; the vice president and the manager of the FAE, Patrick Toussaint and Carles Visa, as well as other members of the project's Executive Committee, will be travelling to the Italian city.
This Wednesday will be the day when the new venues for the World Championships for all disciplines are selected. For alpine skiing, it will take place in the afternoon on the same day. Each candidate will have 10 minutes to present their project in front of the members of the FIS Council. Crans-Montana will take the first turn out of the contenders at 5:00 p.m., followed by Garmisch-Partenkirchen (5:20) and Narvik (5:40). Andorra will conclude the presentations at 6:00 p.m. Afterwards, the members of the council will leave to cast their votes, and at approximately 7:20 p.m., the connection will be resumed for a few minutes and the venue that will be organizing the 2027 World Cups will be announced.
The vote
The voting process is similar to the Olympics’ system. In this case, 16 members of the FIS Council from different countries around the world have the right to vote. During the first round of voting, the directors will select one of the venues. If one of them obtains the absolute majority, it will be the organizer. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and a second round of voting will take place. This is a historic milestone for the Pyrenees. Never before has any resort in the entire mountain range decided to organize a sporting event of this caliber.
It can be followed live from https:// www.youtube.com/c/fis and from https:// www.andorradifusio.ad (ATV live stream).
With all eyes on Milan, from the center of Andorra
The Technical Office has set up a venue in central Andorra to enjoy the moment of the election of the 2027 World Cups host. This Wednesday, at 6:30 p.m., the hall on the ground floor of the Illa Carlemany shopping center in Escaldes-Engordany will bring together fans of the world of skiing, athletes from the Andorran Ski Federation (Joan Verdú, giant slalom European Cup champion, Cande Moreno, and Roger Puig), and institutional representatives to watch the FIS announcement live. The event, which is open to the public, will have a big screen that will be showing the FIS broadcast and the special program on Andorra Televisió. The event will also be family-friendly.
Initial feelings
In a meeting with national press, the general director of the Andorra 2027 candidacy, David Hidalgo, explained this afternoon that after all the work carried out in recent months, “we have gone from having an exciting idea to getting things in place and seeing that we really do have good options.” And he added: “There is an important political component, so we come with options, but without any guarantees, like the other candidates.” For his part, the manager of the FAE, Carles Visa, affirmed that a “very good project has been put together, we have done our homework, and the previous sporting events that have earned us a good reputation on the international scene have endorsed us.”
Upcoming World Cups
The next edition of the World Championships will be in 2023 in Courchevel-Méribel (France). Two years later, Saalbach (Austria) will be hosting the event. The last World Cups were held in 2021 in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy).
