Back-to-back Birds of Prey speed event World Cup weekends set for Beaver Creek

The International Ski Federation (FIS) recently discussed its upcoming World Cup ski racing schedule at its annual spring meeting, including back-to-back, speed-event weekends at Beaver Creek for the both the men and the women:

“As usual, the teams will head to North America and Canada for downhill, Super-G and Giant Slalom races. A semi-new feature on the women’s calendar will be a Downhill and a Super-G on the Birds of Prey slope in Beaver Creek (USA), following the traditional men’s weekend,” FIS officials recently wrote.

This was first reported by Ski Racing back in November and commented upon by RealVail.com back in December in an obvious tip of the hat to the greatest women’s World Cup ski racer of all time, Mikaela Shiffrin, who calls the Eagle River Valley home.

Here’s the recent FIS post on the upcoming alpine World Cup ski racing calendar:

While the snow has continued to show its face in recent weeks, the annual FIS Spring Meeting offered the perfect setting for spring conditions. The annual event took place in the charming Slovenian resort of Portorož. 

The week’s highlight came Wednesday when the Alpine Skiing World Cup Sub-Committee and Committee members met to deliberate on the coming season’s nuances, prospects and alpine prowess.

Audi FIS Ski World Cup Calendars 2024-2025

While the 2024-2025 calendars had already been revealed to the National Ski Associations, the provisional calendars for the coming season were again presented to all in the room with great delight. 

The calendar will be woven with some returning competition venues, with venues making their grand debut, and not forgetting the venerable traditions that thrill us every year. 

The highlight of the coming season will be the World Championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, from February 04 to 16. Having hosted the World Cup finals last March, the organisers have shown us that the venue is ready to welcome the world’s best athletes for two weeks of competitions already shaping up to be full of excitement and surprises. 

Regarding the World Cup calendar, the inaugural Opening World Cup weekend in Soelden (AUT) will again occur on the last weekend of October, followed by two further weekends of competition. The Men’s and Women’s tours will continue to rub shoulders for two more weekends before going their separate ways until the World Championships. 

To the delight of Levi (FIN), the boys will make their return to the “Black-Levi” slope on Sunday, November 17, the day after the women’s race. 

The same goes for Gurgl (AUT), which had a successful first slalom last winter, with, as we all remember, the Austrian trio (Feller, Schwarz, Matt) winning. The men’s slalom takes place on Saturday, November 23, followed by the women’s slalom on Sunday, November 24. 

 As usual, the teams will head to North America and Canada for downhill, Super-G and Giant Slalom races. A semi-new feature on the women’s calendar will be a Downhill and a Super-G on the Birds of Prey slope in Beaver Creek (USA), following the traditional men’s weekend. 

The World Cup will continue the traditional circuit with a few exceptions. Madonna di Campiglio (ITA) has been moved to after the end of the year instead of before Christmas, and the same applies to the women’s night slalom in Courchevel (FRA), which will be scheduled at the end of January before the most important event of the season. 

Once the World Championships are over, it will be time to consider the next World Championships in 2027 in Crans-Montana (SUI). The men’s speed skiers will travel to the Swiss plateau for two-speed events to test the as-yet-unknown men’s slope. 

As for the continuation of the season after the World Championships, there are a few changes and, therefore a few returns in the Calendar, such as Sestriere (ITA) and La Thuile (ITA), respectively, before and after the Scandinavian blockade. 

The men’s side will again see a new venue on the calendar for the last weekend before the finals. The World Cup Tour will spend not one but two weekends in Norway, with the arrival of Hafjell, which will include a technical weekend. 

The World Cup finals, hosted by Sun Valley (USA), will occur in one week, from the 22nd to the 27th of March.