The para-alpine skiing world championships in January had to be held in Åre, then the venue was changed to La Molina. Alpine medals are not counted there either, but Espot in Spain was finally confirmed as the race venue.
Having made Finnish alpine skiing history at the Beijing Paralympics Santeri Kiiverin had to count on the WC medals in Åre in the starting season. In the summer, however, the organizers of the World Cup announced that they would not be able to organize the games.
The background is that alpine skiing, snowboarding and cross-country skiing moved from the International Paralympic Committee to the International Ski Federation, FIS. The Swedes justified the cancellation of the Games by saying that the changes are too big to be dealt with so quickly.
For Kiiver, who is looking for World Cup success, the move of the Games from Åre was a little disappointing.
– It’s the closest place where you can count all the sports. More acquaintances would probably have been there to watch, but we’ll go with what we’re given. You can’t really worry about it.
FIS found a new race organizer in Spain. The champions of alpine sports were supposed to be determined in La Molina, and Espot was found to be the organizer of the snowboarders’ competition. However, this plan did not succeed either.
Only about 70 days before the opening of the World Cup, the venues changed again. The ski slope that was under construction in La Molina did not have time to get a classification, so the games cannot be counted as planned.
The solution was that alpine skiing and snowboarding switched places – the World Championships in para-snowboarding are therefore held in La Molina, and in para-alpine skiing the World Championships medals are awarded in Espot.
– Espot is a really nice place. I’ve been there, but a long time ago. Now it has at least been confirmed and that information will remain as it is, hopefully, so that there is no need to change anymore, Kiiveri states.
Competition manager for para-alpine skiing Anja Skutelj says in the FIS announcement that Espot’s downhill slope only meets the minimum requirements, but otherwise the races can be run on slopes suitable for the World Championship.
Although the competition venue has changed several times now, the Finnish calculator has not given much thought to the events. The main thing for Kiiver is that the races can be counted.
– I haven’t stressed about it, since I couldn’t really influence it myself. Just waiting for that last place.
In January, the World Championships for all parasnow sports were to be held in Åre and Östersund. For the first time, a similar entity was organized in Lillehammer 2022.
Now the competitions are organized at the same time, but alpine skiing and snowboarding are contested in Spain, and in skiing and biathlon, the World Cup success is celebrated in Östersund. The races start on January 18, 2023.