After the speed races in Garmisch, Courchevel (France) will host a Night Slalom on January 30th in the Émile-Allais Stadium, located in Courchevel 1850 on the Loze sector. It is the 7h of 10 Slalom races scheduled on the 2024-2025 Alpine Ski World Cup calendar and the last before the Saalbach Alpine World Ski Championships.
Mikaela Shiffrin, the winningest skier in Alpine Ski World Cup history, is set to return to competition in Courchevel, 60 days after her injury. In Gurgl, Mikaela Shiffrin claimed her 99th Alpine Skiing World Cup win. Of her impressive 99 World Cup victories, 62 have come in Slalom. The 29-year-old US skier is just one victory away from the "hundred" milestone. In Courchevel, she will have the chance to reach the 100th mark in the Slalom race on Thursday.
Courchevel (FRA)
January 30th Slalom / Women (Night Event) 17:00 CET 1st run 20:00 CET 2nd run
Start altitude: 2,015 m
Finish altitude: 1,805 m
Elevation difference: 210 m
Length: 503 m
Maximum gradient: 44%
Average gradient: 37%
Built from scratch in 1946, Courchevel is a French Alps ski resort with four different areas: Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Courchevel 1850. The Courchevel Valley also includes the town of La Tania, built as competitors' accommodation for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.
Courchevel is part of the Les 3 Vallées, the world’s largest ski area with 7 interconnected resorts (Courchevel, Méribel, Brides-les-Bains, Les Menuires, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, Val Thorens and Orelle) and 600 kilometers of ski runs.
The area originally consisted of three valleys: Saint-Bon, Allues, and Belleville in the Tarentaise, Savoie. The skiing area has since been extended into a 'fourth' valley, the Maurienne Valley.
Within the Tarentaise Valley, you find the biggest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. The most well-known of them are the Paradiski (Les Arcs, La Plagne) and the Espace Killy (Val d'Isère and Tignes).
Courchevel and the Région Auvergne Rhône-Alpes have a long tradition of competitive skiing and hosting major international events. It is from this region that 70% of the athletes who are members of the French Alpine Skiing Team and the main competition clubs or champion trainers come from.
In January 1979, Courchevel hosted for the first time an event of the World Cup, a Giant Slalom won by Ingemar Stenmark.
The 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships were held in Courchevel-Méribel. For the occasion a new, very technical, and challenging Downhill course, L'Éclipse was designed by Bruno Tuaire, director of Courchevel Sports Club, and Hannes Trinkl (FIS).
In 2018 Mikaela Shiffrin won the Slalom held in the Émile-Allais Stadium. Petra Vlhova finished in second place 0.29 seconds behind Shiffrin. Olympic champion Frida Hansdotter of Sweden rounded out the podium in third place (+0.37).
In 2022 Andreja Slokar won the last Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom in Courchevel-Méribel, but it was held on the Roc de Fer racecourse in Méribel. It marked her first and, so far, only podium finish in a World Cup Slalom event.
Last season, the Slalom battle between Petra Vlhova and Mikaela leaned on the Slovak in Courchevel. After making a mistake in the first run that relegated her to second position, Vlhova attacked decisively in the second run under the fog to beat Shiffrin by 0.24 seconds. Katharina Truppe finished in third position (+2.06).
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