DOLOMITES-UNESCO: CLASSIC SITES FOR SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS
TRENTO – The men's Alpine World Cup, the most glamorous event in skiing, will visit the Val Gardena in Italy's stunning Dolomites mountains later this year. This winter the Dolomites, declared a World Heritage Site in June, will host several Alpine Ski World Cup competitions.
The 2009-2010 calendar includes two races in the Val Gardena: the men's super G on Friday, December 18 and the men’s downhill on Saturday, December 19. Alta Badia will host the traditional giant slalom on Sunday, December 20 and the men’s slalom - held on the Gran Risa run at La Villa, known as the course of champions - on Monday, December 21. Women's races will take place in the 'Queen of the Dolomites', the resort town of Cortina d'Ampezzo. The super G is scheduled for Friday, January 22, the downhill races for Saturday January 23 and the giant slalom for Sunday January 24. These important races are the last crucial events in the European season before the Vancouver Olympics.
The first Winter Olympics in Italy were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956. Austrian alpine ski racer Toni Sailer, considered among the best ever in the sport's history, took gold in the downhill, slalom and giant slalom and the event helped launch the now famous resort as an international skiing destination. Cortina has long history of skiing and has been hosting International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup races for 20 years; although it recently lost its bid to host the 2013 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, the town now has its eye on the 2015 event. The main Cortina skiing area is the Tofane Olympic slope with runs laid out by the World Cup Association, led by president Enrico Valle. This traditional World Championship venue was the scene of many of Austrian racer Renate Goetschl’s victories in the late 1990s, including five wins in the combined and five in the super G making for a total of 22 appearances on the podium.
The 1970 World Championships were an important milestone for skiing in the Val Gardena, bringing the Dolomite valley to the world’s attention and introducing the Saslong run, now the classic site for the men’s downhill races and super G events. The famous run has been the scene of triumph for the likes of Cortina skier Cristian Ghedina and Alto Adige champion racer Werner Heel who won the super G at Val Gardena last December.
Although the runs in the Val Badia are more recent, Italian downhill skiers have won on the Gran Risa runs more than once. Italian skier Davide Simoncelli was a specialist of the Gran Risa track and the popular champion Alberto Tomba won fans starting with his first World Cup victory in 1987.
Madonna di Campiglio has been missing from the FIS calendar for a few seasons. Promoted by entrepreneur Gianvittorio Fossati Bellani, the Trentino town in the Brenta Dolomites is the site of the challenging 3-Tre slalom, a race held every two years and featuring particularly steep slopes.
The Dolomites are also synonymous with Nordic skiing. The World Championships in Cross country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined were held in the Val di Fiemme in 1991 and 2003 and are scheduled again for 2013. The popular Tour de Ski cross country event is held in first week in January in the Val di Fiemme, also the site of the well known international cross country race, the Marcialonga.
Another traditional Dolomite competition, the Dobbiaco-Cortina, takes place along the old Austro-Hungarian train tracks. The Val di Non, in the province of Trento just at the edge of the Brenta Dolomites, hosts one of the most popular winter events. The Ciaspolada, created as a way of showcasing the valley’s attractions, is a footrace on snowshoes (ciaspole) run by as many as 7,000 competitors.
The Val di Non was recently short-listed to host the 2010 United Nations Inter-Agency Games, known as the Peace Olympics, founded by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1968. Trento, along with the provinces of Bolzano, Belluno, Prodenone and Udine make up the five northern Italian provinces with Dolomite mountain groups recently inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List for their exceptional beauty, superlative natural phenomena and outstanding examples representing major stages of the earth's history.
