Vail/Beaver Creek will vie for 2013 alpine worlds

The battle for the 2013 World Alpine Ski Championships is shaping up to be a true heavyweight fight, and the United States will send one of its most accomplished ski racing warriors into the ring.
    Colorado’s Vail and Beaver Creek resorts, which together hosted both the 1989 and 1999 World Championships, will make a run at the 2013 event. The news was made official Tuesday when the United States Ski Association selected the Vail Valley Foundation to lead the charge to bring the world’s best alpine racers back to the United States and the Vail Valley for the first time in 14 years.

THE BATTLE FOR the 2013 World Alpine Ski Championships is shaping up to be a true heavyweight fight, and the United States will send one of its most accomplished ski racing warriors into the ring.
    Colorado’s Vail and Beaver Creek resorts, which together hosted both the 1989 and 1999 World Championships, will make a run at the 2013 event. The news was made official Tuesday when the United States Ski Association selected the Vail Valley Foundation to lead the charge to bring the world’s best alpine racers back to the United States and the Vail Valley for the first time in 14 years.
    “The Vail Valley has certainly built a reputation worldwide via the World Championships, and it’s nice to be back in that arena again and hopefully having something to look forward to on a bigger scope and scale,” said John Dakin, the vice president of communications for the Vail Valley Foundation.
    “I think everybody is very well aware we certainly have our work cut out for us on his thing, but everybody also feels we have a shot at winning. That’s the exciting part, having a fighting chance to bring this thing home for a third time.”
    USSA President Bill Marolt cited Vail/Beaver Creek’s reputation and experience with big events as key factors in its candidacy. 
    “Vail/Beaver Creek is unmatched, not just in North America, but throughout the ski world for its history of outstanding major events,” Marolt said. “Year in and year out, they have proven to host the highest quality of events. This is a very strong candidacy for 2013 from a proven organizing committee.”
    As of Tuesday, which was the deadline for national ski federations to submit candidates to the FIS, the contenders for 2013 also included a trio of European heavyweights rife with ski racing tradition — St. Moritz, Switzerland; Schladming, Austria, and Cortina, Italy.
    “There’s no weak link in there,” Dakin said. “I think it says a lot for the World Championships as an event when you have the likes of Schladming, St. Moritz, Cortina and Vail/Beaver Creek in the mix wanting to host. That speaks well of the event. We’ve got some pretty stiff competition, and we have to bring the A game, no doubt.”
    The Vail Valley Foundation was unsuccessful in its most recent World Championships attempt, an ambitious plan that called for Vail and Beaver Creek to serve as the sites of a unique triple 2009 bid that would have included alpine, freestyle and snowboard championships. The FIS Council members failed to buy into the concept and awarded the championships separately, with Val d’Isere, France, awarded the 2009 alpine worlds. Vail/Beaver Creek did not throw its hat into the ring for the 2011 alpine worlds, which were awarded to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
    Dakin said the foundation delegation that worked on the 2009 bid learned valuable lessons on how best to emphasize the strengths of the Vail Valley to the FIS council members. One big factor that should work to the Vail Valley’s advantage this time around, he said, is capital improvement and renovation at both resorts.
    “I don’t know what the final number will be, but it’s probably over a billion dollars in renovation within the valley,” he said. “The Vail and Beaver Creek people will see if they come back for a 2013 World Championships will be dramatically different than even what we know today. Talk about it being a different look and feel, it will be dramatically different look and feel.”
    Another factor is geography. The World Championships have been held in either western or northern Europe four times since 2001. St. Moritz, in fact, hosted the event in 2003. Austria’s St. Anton hosted in 2001.
    “We certainly feel that if it’s a World Championships it ought to move around the world on a pretty regular basis. But that’s up for interpretation, as others would argue that it has moved around the world,” Dakin said. “I think that may be one argument, but you need to have a little stronger platform than, ‘It’s our turn.’ ”
    The Olympic Games could be another factor in the FIS decision-making process. The host city for the 2014 Games will be announced in July, and Salzburg, Austria, is the current frontrunner. If Salzburg wins, would the FIS be leery of awarding the 2013 worlds to Schladming? Dakin said maybe, maybe not. After all, Vail hosted the 1989 World Championships a year after Calgary hosted the Olympics, and Italy’s Bormio hosted the 2005 worlds a year before Torino hosted the Olympics.
    The bottom line, Dakin stressed, is that the final decision will be made by the 17 members of the FIS Council, and the Vail Valley Foundation crew’s tasks are to recognize nationalistic alliances, shake as many hands as possible during the next year and tiptoe through potential political minefields.
    “The key is we need to go out and present our case,” Dakin said. “Obviously you’d like to believe the best candidate will win, but the truth of the matter is you’ve got four potentially best candidates. But that’s what makes it fun, too.”
    Dakin said there is wide-ranging excitement locally for the Vail Valley’s run at the event from officials at the Town of Vail, the Town of Avon and the Eagle County Commission. On the world stage, Dakin was one of a number of foundation employees who attended the 2007 World Championships in Are, Sweden, to take stock of the current state of affairs surrounding the event.
    “The biggest thing that we took home from Are is that the international skiing community would like us to be involved in some way, shape or form,” Dakin said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to make a lot of friends through ski racing for [the Vail Valley] and a lot of good friends who are involved with other resorts and other events, and we’re going to be campaigning against some of those people. It is a very small, tight-knit family, and it’s nice to be an accepted member of that family and having people want you to be involved.”
    A series of votes by the FIS Council will be taken over the next year until one candidate receives a majority of the vote. If no candidate wins a majority, the lowest vote-getter will be eliminated in each vote until a winner is determined. The 2013 World Championships will be awarded in May of 2008 at the FIS Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.