|
|
|
| November, 2000 |
Media Contact: Rose Abello |
CAFÉ de COLOMBIA Alpine World Cup Races are in Fourth Decade After decades of racing in Europe, the alpine World Cup tour was created with the 1966-67 season, organizing individual races into a cohesive schedule that encompasses Europe, North America and the Far East. This winter, the Café de Colombia Ski World Cup tour includes more than 75 races for men and women, including two combined "races". Three men were responsible for coordinating the various races and shaping them into the World Cup: French journalist Serge Lang, French Coach Honore Bonnet and U.S. Coach Bob Beattie. Beattie is the New Hampshire native who went from Middlebury College to the University of Colorado, and then became the first fulltime U.S. Ski Team head coach in 1965; he moved to Aspen in 1970. The World Cup represents the highest level of international skiing. It’s easy to look at the World Cup as a mini-Olympics but there are two major differences: the Olympics are races that occur once every four years and national teams are limited to four entries in each race. On the World Cup, nations may start more than four skiers; in other words, you can face eight or 10 Austrian men in each race, or perhaps a half-dozen Austrian women — all of which makes the World Cup the toughest competition, race after race. "It’s easy to see why the athletes and coaches point to the World Cup as the real measure of greatness, because you need to ski well and you need consistency," Beattie explained. "An athlete needs a winter of skiing well, not just skiing well - or, let’s face it, getting lucky - on one day, as at the Olympics or the World Championships." World Cup racers have earned above-the-table cash prizes since the 1990-91 season when, in conjunction with a U.S. initiative, FIS approved minimum cash prizes. This winter, there will be about $6 million (10 million Swiss francs) in prize money throughout the tour. The U.S. Factor Just as the World Cup truly has become a global venture with races from Europe to North America to the Orient (Japan was the first Asiatic site during the 1977 season), the list of alpine World Cup champions is not strictly a European rundown. The first American World Cup victory came in the second season when Kiki Cutter, a current Aspen resident, won the women’s slalom in Oslo. Within a few weeks, the American men found victory as Billy Kidd in Aspen and "Spider" Sabich in Heavenly won men’s slaloms. Marilyn Cochran became the first U.S. skier to win a discipline title when she was women’s giant slalom champion for the 1969 season. Phil Mahre won three overall World Cup championships (1981, ‘82, ‘83) and five discipline titles in addition to 27 World Cup wins (eight SL, eight GS, 11 combined). Tamara McKinney won 18 Cup races (nine SL, nine GS) and was the 1982 women’s overall title-holder; she also captured three discipline crowns. Hilary Lindh produced the 100th World Cup win by a U.S. skier, taking the downhill in Sierra Nevada, Spain shortly before the 1994 Olympics. 1998 Olympic super G champion Picabo Street was the first American to win a World Cup downhill title in 1995 (with Lindh runner-up in the winter-long standings) and Street repeated in 1996; she’s won nine World Cup downhills. As of the start of the 2000/2001 season, there have been 123 World Cup victories by American alpine skiers. American resorts have been an integral part of the World Cup lineup each winter. There were three in the first season — Cannon Mountain in Franconia, N.H.; Vail, Colo.; and Jackson Hole, Wyo. Aspen hosted its first World Cup race in 1968, and this year marks the 18th season that Ajax has hosted World Cup. The first World Alpine Ski Championships in the U.S. were in Aspen in 1950. The careers of many of American ski-racing greats including Andrea Mead Lawrence and Penny Pitou, Gretchen Fraser and Betsy Snite, Buddy Werner and Dick Durrance ended before the advent of World Cup — but their careers and their fame were made in part during competitions on Ajax. In the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s, U.S. resorts have played an
increasing role in ensuring the World Cup schedule is not merely a European ballgame.
Although the season traditionally begins with one weekend of racing in
late October on European glaciers, the FIS has come to rely on American
resorts for the start of continuous racing. Park City, Utah, is the
traditional regular-season opener on the calendar for both men’s and women’s tours. Vail/Beaver Creek, Mammoth Mountain, Waterville Valley, Steamboat, Breckenridge, and now Aspen, have all played host to early-season races where the value of U.S. snowmaking helps guarantee plenty of snow cover for Back to Table of Contents
|