U.S. slopes will host 22 World Cup competitions during 2006-07

U.S. slopes will host 22 World Cup competitions during 2006-07VILAMOURA, Portugal – U.S. ski and snowboard resorts will host nearly two dozen alpine, freestyle and snowboard World Cup events during the 2007 season, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association said Friday.

Final determinations on the sites and dates were completed at the International Ski Federation (FIS) biennial Congress. The schedule includes six alpine races, a dozen freestyle contests and four snowboarding competitions.

“USSA is honored to have such strong World Cup venue partners as Aspen, Beaver Creek, Deer Valley and Lake Placid,” said USSA President and CEO Bill Marolt. “The FIS World Cup events are the face of our sport globally and we’re proud to be able to showcase our ski and snowboard sports at such great resorts in America.”

Each U.S. resort has representation at the FIS Congress. The World Cup events at U.S. resorts in the 2007 season:

ALPINE
Nov. 25-26 – Aspen, Colo. (women’s giant slalom, slalom)
Nov. 30-Dec. 3 – Beaver Creek, Colo.(men’s super combined, downhill, GS, slalom)

FREESTYLE
Jan. 11-13 – Deer Valley, Utah (men’s and women’s moguls, aerials*, dual moguls*)
Jan. 18-20 – Lake Placid, N.Y. (men’s and women’s aerials*, moguls, aerials)

SNOWBOARD
March 10-11 – Lake Placid, N.Y. (men’s and women’s halfpipe, snowboardcross)

* – Night event

The super combined in alpine is a relatively new event for the World Cup, moving the traditional combined – i.e., a designated downhill on one day and two runs of slalom on another – into a one-day format with one run of DH and only one run of slalom. The Beaver Creek event will be the first World Cup combined of any format to be held for men in the United States in the 41-year history of the World Cup; the women had a traditional combined at Steamboat Springs, Colo., in December 1989.

The FIS tour directors for each sport develop the various World Cup calendars together with national associations, such as USSA. Annual approval is by the respective sport committee and the FIS Council.

The announcement of World Cup dates followed an historic moment Thursday night as FIS awarded the 2011 World Freestyle Ski Championships to Deer Valley. The announcement made Deer Valley, host of 2002 Olympic freestyle events (and alpine’s slalom races) and the ’03 freestyle worlds, the first venue to host freestyle’s championships for a second time.

– USSA