Top athletes not on board with Matterhorn early season World Cup

The “Matterhorn World Cup Project,” as originally reported by Ski Racing Media in May, is perhaps the most intriguing project currently under consideration by the FIS Alpine World Cup. The concept is to build a new downhill course in the shadow of the famed Matterhorn, starting in Switzerland and finishing in Italy. It would customarily become an early season speed event for both men and women in October, notably moving the speed calendar up more than a month. It could debut as early as 2022.

The men’s downhill is proposed to start from Rollin’s Hump (3,899m above sea level), in Switzerland, with the finish planned for Laghi Cime Banche (2,814m), in Italy. The unique race would attain the distinction of having the highest start altitude of any race worldwide.

However, as recently reported in Blick, at least a couple heavy hitters in men’s speed are not so excited about the project. Dominik Paris and Beat Feuz weighed in with their thoughts, raising concerns about safety on the new track.

“We keep talking about how to make our sport safer. But I don’t think it’s a safety feature if you start a downhill run at an altitude of 4,000 meters at the beginning of a World Cup winter, the running time of which is two-and-a-half minutes,” said Paris. The Italian worries that the altitude and the length of the track may cause more accidents and pose an excessive safety hazard to those who attempt the race, and he is not alone.

“In my opinion, it will be very difficult to catch a day with consistently good weather conditions at the planned start of the race in November at 4,000 meters above sea level,” said Feuz. “You shouldn’t forget that at this altitude, even in very nice weather, the wind plays a role. And the race should also be a bit fair.”