The US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) announced on Thursday that it is bidding to bring a women’s World Cup event to Killington Resort in Vermont in November of 2016. The last time a World Cup event was held on the east coast was at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire back in 1991, when Alberto Tomba won the giant slalom by 0.01 seconds.
USSA officials are making their pitch to the International Ski Federation (FIS) this week in Zurich. Aside from the historic winter in New England last year, USSA president Tiger Shaw said that moving the event (which is normally held in Aspen) to the East Coast has potential to reach a larger audience, which is what initially sold FIS on the idea.
“The fact that it’s close to thousands of ski racing and skiing fans makes it very different than World Cups in the US where certainly Vail draws a large crowd and Denver is right there but near Killington you’ve got Montreal, Albany, Boston, New York City and a lot of other cities in New England. And thousands of ski racers right around the corner and right there at Killington.” – Shaw
The economic impact for the globally broadcasted event could be between 15 and 20 million dollars for the state of Vermont. Although there are contingencies incase Killington’s resources are unable to provide snow, Shaw noted that they are committed to making it happen.
This event will allow an enourmous amount of ski enthusiast to experience a world class event. Some of the competitors could include US Ski Team superstars Julia Mancuso, Mikaela Shiffrin, and Lindsey Vonn.
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