After a spectacular U-turn in World Cup planning, a downhill race is now to take place in Zermatt from 2027 after all. Bernhard Russi speaks out in favor of the new plans and demands a longer ski season.
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- From 2027, World Cup races could be held in Zermatt every spring.
- Bernhard Russi is campaigning for a new edition of the Gornergrat downhill from the 60s.
- The altitude, orientation and weather conditions in the area east of Zermatt are ideal, says the Swiss skiing legend.
- Russi also wants to make the extended ski season appealing to the athletes with an adapted competition schedule.
On Tuesday, "Blick" reported that the FIS is now interested in holding a World Cup downhill in Zermatt again after a long back and forth. The new plan: instead of the two-country downhill on the "Gran Becca", Odermatt and Co. are to race a new version of the Gornergrat downhill from the 1960s.
At six kilometers long, this course was the longest on the World Cup calendar at the time. Bernhard Russi has now suggested a shorter version to the people of Zermatt. "The terrain from the Gornergrat with a start at around 2700 m down to 1850 m on "Schweigmatten" offers the necessary scope for maximum attractiveness," writes the Swiss skiing legend in a column in "Blick".
The altitude and ideal north-west orientation would ensure that "perfect speed disciplines can still be held in spring", Russi knows - and continues: "As the last few winters have shown, there is more snow in March than in early winter."
Longer season with adapted competition planning
OC President Franz Julen has already confirmed that the FIS has "kept its word" and submitted "written proposals for future World Cup races" on the new Gornergrat course. Instead of November, the races are to be held at the end of March or beginning of April from 2027. This would mean an extension of the ski season, which this year ended on the second-last weekend in March in Saalbach-Hinterglemm.
Although the conditions in Zermatt are still right at this time, an extension of the ski calendar could cause displeasure in the athletes' camp.
Russi is also aware of this. "I'm already hearing the occasional moaning from individual athletes and coaches about overloading, that there are too many races and the World Cup season is too exhausting and too long," predicts the 75-year-old, but counters: "There is also an answer to this: sensible and individually adapted competition planning! Ski racing deserves to be on the radar for longer than just four months."
Russi does not reveal what exactly an adapted competition schedule should look like. However, extending the season could certainly take the pressure off his busy ski calendar.
The Matterhorn on TV at the end of the season
World Cup dominator Marco Odermatt already hinted on Tuesday that he would be happy to race on the Gornergrat. "Due to the negative experiences we had in the speed area at the last World Cup finals in Saalbach and Andorra, it is obvious that we should hold the March races at much higher altitudes in future," he told Blick.
"I am sure that we would also enjoy excellent and above all fair conditions in Zermatt at the end of the season." As a little treat, the 26-year-old adds: "In contrast to the Gran Becca, the TV broadcast from the Gornergrat piste would show the much more beautiful Swiss side of the Matterhorn."
Russi is also hoping for such TV images: "It wouldn't do the World Cup any harm to present itself once again in the glamorous light of Zermatt at the end of the season."