On December 2 and 3, Tremblant hosted the women’s alpine World Cup for two full sets of giant slalom races. It was clearly the most significant event ever organized by the Tremblant Ski Resort team.

Two days of exciting races as the world’s greatest female skiers competed on the Flying Mile trail – which was decked out for the occasion in its best white coat. The challenge of getting enough snow onto the track to be able to host an event sanctioned by the Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard (FIS) was a big one. Elsewhere in this issue we introduce the orchestra conductor of this feat, Richard (Ricky) Lyng, on page 16.

But the event represented more than a major technical snowmaking and grooming challenge in full-on autumn. Tremblant rarely does things by halves and the goal was to provide the public, the teams, and the skiers, the most beautiful World Cup in the… world. Mission accomplished, according to several key players in the world of skiing who were asked.

Tremblant, the women’s future Kitzbühel?

It may seem a bit ambitious. Please note, however, that the most-decorated Canadian skier in history and the one to whom we owe the presence of the Cup in our backyard, Erik Guay, told us that he would really like the Tremblant World Cup to become as emblematic for the women as the Kitzbühel is for the men. Craig Betts, a great fan of alpine skiing who travels Europe, in particular, to attend the various World Cups, has said that to his knowledge, with the exception of Kitzbühel, few events offer athletes the same proximity to the public and to the village in which they’re staying. Jean-François Rapatel, director of high performance with Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) is in full agreement.

“It’s a success right down the line,” he proclaimed on Sunday afternoon, a few minutes from the medals ceremony. “The teams are impressed and happy with the result. You have to admit that the facilities are incredible and the response from the crowd is just wow!”

As to whether the course meets the requirements of the FIS, JF Rapatel answers in the affirmative. “The concept here is unique for lots of reasons,” he states. “It’s very diversified, long and technical with many variations in terrain. I actually think that this World Cup will become iconic on the circuit.”

The athletes

A few more than 60 female skiers left the starting gate in the morning of the first phase of this new event on the World Cup circuit. Only 30 of them had the opportunity to race in the second phase, which happened in the afternoon. The cumulative time of the two runs determined the final classification of these accomplished athletes. For the 30 first finishers, two days meant four runs, although on different courses. While they had had the opportunity to study the courses, the unknown awaited the skiers with each descent.

On Saturday, Valérie Grenier finished eighth, at 1.85 seconds behind the winner, Italian Federica Brignone (2:14.95). Petra Vlhova took second place and the best female skier in history, Mikaela Shiffrin, was on the third step of the podium. On Sunday, Federica Brignone won again by beating the Swiss woman Lara Gut-Behrami by 33 hundredths of a second, and American Mikaela Shiffrin by 39 hundredths. On that day, Valérie had finished 11th on the first run. She provided the third fastest descent in the afternoon with a time of 1 minute, 4 seconds and 69 hundredths of a second which brought her in at sixth place.

The highlight of the show: the spectators

Close to 15,000 persons came to encourage the skiers. Canadians Valérie Grenier, Britt Richardson and Cassidy Gray told us that they could hear the crowd during the whole race, from start to finish. They were not alone in that. Several flags of France, Italy, Slovakia and Finland floated above the crowd, perhaps buoyed by spectator shouts and cries. It was, at the same time, exciting, moving and captivating. In other words, electrifying.

Please note: the 2024 Tremblant World Cup has been confirmed. It will take place next December 7 and 8.

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