For the first time since 1991, the East Coast played host to skiing’s FIS World Cup this weekend as athletes from all over the globe gathered at Killington for womens’ giant slalom and slalom events.
A raucous, record-breaking crowd of nearly 27,000 East Coast skiing fans between the two days of competition were treated to exciting racing, including a slalom win by hometown girl Mikaela Shiffrin. Shiffrin, 21, spent her formative years on the slopes of Vermont at the famed Burke Mountain Academy before going on to Olympic glory and becoming the games’ youngest slalom gold medalist in history.
According to U.S. Ski Racing officials, the large crowds made #BeastWorldCup, as the event was being referred to, one of the most well attended women’s skiing events in U.S. history and it’s attendance was on par with FIS events anywhere in North America.
“All of us would love to come back here,” said USSA’s Tom Kelly. “We’re going to take a serious look at it. The World Cup calendar for next year will be determined in May at the International Ski Federation meetings, and we’re certainly going to continue to talk to Killington and talk to FIS to see if there’s an opportunity to come back here. We just had a great opportunity to expose the sport to so many kids out here in the state of Vermont.”
Let us know in the comments: Would you like to see World Cup ski racing become a regular part of East Coast winters?
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I absolutely would love to see world cup racing become a regular event on the East coast. However, I hope the powers recognize that they probably won’t see this kind of attendance again. While it would be interesting if the event moved around to a few other resorts (Stowe, Sunday river, Sugarloaf), I do think Killington is a wise choice due to its ability to draw spectators from both Boston and NYC, plus it’s pretty much unmatched ability to make snow.
I agree, I would love to see it become a regular thing. The biggest hurdle with putting something like this on is the cost, most of which gets footed by the mountain. That makes me think seeing it at the same place, like Killington, year after year, might be difficult. Spreading the load might be the best way to do it. That being said, only the bigger places are going to have the funds to make it happen. The three you mentioned would be a good start, especially Sunday River, with a similar season length and snowmaking capability to Killington. We’ll see!