Some of the biggest names in ski racing will compete at Waterville Valley when it hosts the 2019 and 2021 U.S. Alpine Ski Championships.
“This will be the biggest race that Waterville Valley Resort has hosted since our last World Cup in 1991. The whole team is excited to be bringing elite racing back to Waterville Valley,” said Tim Smith, the resort’s president and general manager.
Waterville Valley spokesperson Matt Hesser said the Ski and Snowboard Team makes the selection for which mountain will host the championships. Having worked with the team in the past, Hesser said the Waterville team is very excited for the opportunity to work together again.
After applying for the bid, Hesser said the resort had to go through a process in which an inspector comes to the mountain to look at the trails and terrain and ensure the proper paperwork and fees have been submitted.
“The resorts need to have competition venues that … meet the minimum specifications for hosting these particular disciplines at the international level,” said Senior Events Director for U.S. Ski and Snowboard Eric Webster.
Part of the process includes basic information about the resort to help ensure there is proper safety equipment along the trails. Inspectors are assigned to the mountains for in-person visits after the application is received.
Webster said they had sent a request for proposal to several East Coast mountains and received three formal proposals. Since the competition rotates between the coasts each year, they were accepting applications only from East Coast resorts.
“We had our first discussions with Waterville Valley about hosting in mid-May 2018,” Webster said.
The races will consist of the slalom, giant slalom and the parallel slalom – which is a new race for the upcoming championship. The week before, Waterville will be hosting a freestyle competition with the mogul and double mogul. Alpine Ski Team spokesperson Megan Harrod said she is expecting about 100 athletes from both genders – about 200 total – to participate in the competition.
“With names like Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn coming, we’d expect to see a couple thousand folks,” Hesser said. “It’ll be an exciting couple weeks here.”
Hesser said there is always competition between resorts to host championship events. He credits the success of Waterville to the fact that it was designed by Olympian Tom Corcoran.
Harrod said she hasn’t been in contact with any team members because they are all at training camps but said, “The excitement level is very high for competition on the East Coast because they know the fan base is so engaged.”
“We are looking forward to bringing elite ski racing back to Waterville Valley Resort,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Chief of Systems and Operations Calum Clark. “The membership and fan base in the east is vast and extremely engaged with the sport, and our athletes love competing in front of them.”
The Monitor asked Webster if he could identify the two resorts Waterville beat out. He declined to name them because the Ski and Snowboard Association does not want to discourage resorts who didn’t receive the bid from seeking it in the future.
(Jacob Dawson can be reached at 369-3325, jdawson@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @jaked156.)