Crans Montana / GEPA pictures
t’s now less than 160 days until the ski racing world heads to Crans-Montana, Switzerland, for the 49th edition of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.
The championships will take place Feb. 1-14, 2027, marking 40 years since the Valais resort hosted the 1987 edition.
Over 14 days, nearly 600 athletes from approximately 80 nations are expected to compete for 11 world titles. The races will take place at the Mont Lachaux and Nationale race venues, with organizers preparing to accommodate as many as 10,000 spectators in the finish stadium.
Two race venues will host the championships
The championships will be divided between the Nationale and Mont Lachaux race venues. Downhill is the only discipline that starts from the top of each venue. Super-G, giant slalom and slalom use lower start locations and their own course configurations.
Nationale will host the men’s downhill and super-G, along with the women’s and men’s giant slalom races.
Mont Lachaux will host the women’s downhill and super-G, both slalom races and the team parallel.
The men’s and women’s team combined races will also return after making their World Championship debut in Saalbach, Austria, in 2025.
Crans-Montana 2027 race schedule
A dagger indicates a medal race. The schedule is available through the Crans-Montana 2027 organizing committee.
Feb. 1 — Team parallel† and opening ceremony at Ycoor
Feb. 2 — First women’s downhill training
Feb. 3 — Second women’s downhill training and first men’s downhill training
Feb. 4 — Women’s super-G† and second men’s downhill training
Feb. 5 — Men’s super-G† and third women’s downhill training
Feb. 6 — Women’s downhill† and third men’s downhill training
Feb. 7 — Men’s downhill†
Feb. 8 — Reserve day
Feb. 9 — Women’s team combined†
Feb. 10 — Men’s team combined† and women’s giant slalom qualification
Feb. 11 — Women’s giant slalom† and men’s giant slalom qualification
Feb. 12 — Men’s giant slalom† and women’s slalom qualification
Feb. 13 — Women’s slalom† and men’s slalom qualification
Feb. 14 — Men’s slalom† and closing ceremony
† Medal race
Following Saalbach’s footsteps
The 2025 World Championships in Saalbach delivered two weeks of memorable racing and a strong performance from the host nation.
Austria’s Raphael Haaser won the giant slalom title and earned silver in super-G. Stephanie Venier won the women’s super-G, while Vincent Kriechmayr, Katharina Liensberger and Katharina Truppe were also among the Austrian medalists.
Saalbach opened the championships with the team parallel alongside musical performances and a parade of participating nations. Crans-Montana will follow a similar format, beginning with the team parallel and opening ceremony Feb. 1.
Stifel U.S. Ski Team success in Saalbach
The Stifel U.S. Ski Team found much of its success on the women’s side in Saalbach.
Breezy Johnson won the downhill before pairing with Mikaela Shiffrin to capture the inaugural women’s team combined title. Johnson completed the downhill portion before Shiffrin delivered the deciding slalom run.
Shiffrin entered the championships after returning from the puncture wound and abdominal injuries she suffered in a November 2024 giant slalom crash at Killington, Vermont. The team combined victory gave her a 15th career World Championship medal and eighth gold.
Lauren Macuga added another U.S. medal in the women’s super-G. She tied Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie for bronze during a breakthrough World Cup season.
Those results could bring several defending American medalists to Crans-Montana.
Preparations enter their final stage
With the countdown underway, Crans-Montana organizers have moved from planning into the final stages of construction and implementation.
According to the Crans-Montana 2027 organizing committee, the operation includes more than 25 miles of safety netting, 2,300 poles and nearly 900 tons of equipment. Temporary infrastructure will include grandstands, a mixed zone, operational offices and facilities for athletes, teams, media and spectators.
Didier Défago, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion and CEO of Crans-Montana 2027, said the scale of the project will become increasingly visible in the coming months.
“From now on, every week will see the World Championships take a little more shape,” Défago said. “All our teams are working toward a common goal: to deliver a memorable event that brings athletes, media, partners, volunteers and spectators together around a shared passion, while leaving a lasting legacy for our region.”
FIS will conduct its final official inspection Sept. 23-25. The inspection will cover the race venues, finish stadiums, spectator areas, ceremony locations, media center, race office and athlete service facilities.
A final World Cup test
Crans-Montana hosted the final World Cup races before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, giving organizers an important test at both championship race venues.
FIS canceled the scheduled women’s downhill Jan. 30 after six racers started in deteriorating visibility. Lindsey Vonn, Norway’s Marte Monsen and Austria’s Nina Ortlieb failed to finish. Vonn later revealed that she tore the ACL in her left knee during her crash.
One day later, Swiss skier Malorie Blanc earned her first World Cup victory in the women’s super-G. She finished ahead of Italy’s Sofia Goggia, while Johnson placed third.
The men raced downhill on Nationale on Feb. 1. Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen won on home snow, followed by Italy’s Dominik Paris and American Ryan Cochran-Siegle.
Crans-Montana has long been a regular stop for the women’s World Cup. Men’s World Cup races have been less frequent, but recent competitions have allowed organizers to test Nationale before the championships.
Swiss champions return home
Switzerland will enter its home World Championships with several opportunities to defend titles won in Saalbach.
Von Allmen is the reigning downhill and team combined champion. He won the combined title with Loïc Meillard as Switzerland swept the men’s podium. Alexis Monney and Tanguy Nef earned silver, while Stefan Rogentin and the now-retired Marc Rochat took bronze.
Marco Odermatt will arrive as the defending super-G champion. Monney also earned downhill bronze in Saalbach, and Thomas Tumler won giant slalom silver.
The Swiss women produced a one-two finish in the slalom. Camille Rast won the title, while Wendy Holdener claimed silver. Holdener also paired with Lara Gut-Behrami, who has since retired, to earn silver in the women’s team combined.
With defending champions, established World Cup stars and two familiar race venues, Switzerland will have high expectations when the World Championships return to Crans-Montana for the first time in 40 years.
About the Author: Matt Garcka
