Industry News
The Swiss ski resort Crans-Montana, located in the French speaking canton of Valais, has been forced to cancel its annual FIS Night Slalom.
The event was scheduled to take place on January 11, 2023, and is an annual highlight for international alpine athletes, who angle for an invite to this exclusive event for the world’s elite each year. The event is a crowd favorite too, as it is styled in a nail-biting knock-out format. Last year’s winner was Sweden’s Kristoffer Jakobsen.
The event organizers stress that it was a difficult decision to make, but in light of the energy crisis in Europe, they felt it was not possible to hold the race. The Swiss federal government required all businesses and individuals to cut 10% of their energy usage until March 2023 and the illumination required to hold the night event would have sent the wrong message during a global energy crisis.
The organizing committee is confident they can hold the event again in 2024. In the meantime, its other FIS events, like the Women’s Downhill World Cup from February 25-26, 2023, will not be impacted and will go ahead as planned.
Crans-Montana is a regular on the FIS World Cup circuit and will hold the coveted World Cup Championships in 2027. The ski resort just received a credit from the local canton to rebuild the finish area for a total of CHF 14.5 million (USD 14.5 million). The last time Crans-Montana hosted the World Cup Championships was in 1987, 40 years prior.
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