The departures in Zermatt/Cervinia are off the calendar at least in 2024. Swiss Ski and the International Ski Association (FIS) announced this at the World Cup final in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. There are other construction sites between the two associations.
The riders may never pass this finish line: the World Cup project in Zermatt and Cervinia has failed for the time being.
Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone
The last sporting decision of the season had only just been made when the first important one for next winter was already leaked. Johan Eliasch, the president of the International Ski Federation (FIS), announced that the races in Zermatt/Cervinia will not take place this year.
The communication of the temporary cancellation was actually only planned for next week, as all the details have not yet been clarified, as Swiss Ski CEO Diegoüger announced. The FIS Council also still has to agree to the deletion, probably at a meeting in May.
For the 2025/26 season they want to talk again and look for a solution, writesüger. However, this seems unrealistic as the interests of those involved are too different.
This means that the prestigious project on the Matterhorn, which starts in Switzerland and ends in Italy, is coming to a bitter end for the time being. The project faced headwinds right from the start. The criticism was that the route was too long for this altitude and too strenuous for the drivers, and the weather on the glacier in November was too unsafe.
At least the last argument was true in the first two planned events, even if one has to assume based on the weather evaluations that the organizers were very unlucky: in 2022 all four races had to be canceled because of too little snow, and in 2023 because of too much wind.
The FIS wanted a speed final in Zermatt at the beginning of April
The drivers almost unanimously opposed the project. Most people saw that such a race against the most famous backdrop in the Alps would be fundamentally interesting for skiing. On Saturday, Eliasch once again wanted to persuade Zermatt OK President Franz Julen to hold the event at the end of March/beginning of April – instead of a speed opening, as a speed finale.
That’s not an option for Zermatt, as Julen says: “It’s deep winter here at this time. How are you supposed to get all the material to 2900 meters above sea level? In addition, the mountain railways have to prepare 360 kilometers of slopes every day, and every hotel room is fully booked. We would be happy to listen to suggestions from the FIS again, says Julen. But you can see how interest in skiing decreases after the World Championships or Olympic Games. Financing in the spring would be correspondingly difficult.
Such a thing would have been secured for the third edition. The last point, insurance, had also recently been clarified. Zermatt and Cervinia would have been responsible for the first cancellation, and insurance was found for the second to fourth race cancellations. In the end, the end of his passion project no longer came as a surprise to Julen. He knew that the athletes at the races in Kvitfjell had spoken out against it. Even Marco Odermatt was only neutral about the project. Julen is still convinced of the product and that it would have been good for skiing. “But you do sporting events for the athletes. If the customer doesn’t want a product, you have to take it off the market. I respect that.”
For Swiss Ski, one of the numerous points on the agenda of the complicated relationship between the Swiss association and the FIS with President Eliasch has been clarified. Among other things, it is unclear what will happen next with the 2027 World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana.
In mid-February, the FIS shocked Swiss Ski with the threat of withdrawing the World Cup from Crans-Montana. The problem: open questions about responsibilities and the question of liability. A contract is still not signed. Swiss Ski is in written communication with the FIS and the search for solutions is ongoing. “It is clear that this World Cup will take place in Crans,” says Swiss Ski CEOüger. The damage would be great, not only for Switzerland and the organizers, but also for the image of the FIS and skiing.
Will the FIS Games 2028 take place in the Engadine?
Swiss Ski is also waiting for further answers from the FIS regarding the 2028 FIS Games. Switzerland would have to submit the dossier by the end of March – after Norway’s withdrawal, she is the last remaining candidate. But Swiss Ski is still unsure whether it wants to send St. Moritz and the Engadine into the race for the premiere. After the experiences with the World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana, people are too cautious, too many questions are still unanswered.
The FIS Games are intended to be a kind of small Olympic Games for snow sports, which take place in the year in which neither the World Ski Championships nor the Olympics are on the calendar. Here too, marketing, responsibilities and risk assumption are the points of contention. And it’s about which disciplines are held and what plays a role in financing.
There is also the issue of central marketing. The FIS concluded a contract with Infront in this regard last year; the national associations were not involved. It is agreed that a centrally marketed World Cup would be a good idea to advance snow sports. But opinions differ as to how.
Swiss Ski has joined forces with other nations to form the “Snowflake” project. “We are convinced that we need more nations to compete in skiing, also in order to develop markets,” saysüger. In the project that the nations have developed and now presented to the FIS, the small and medium-sized associations would benefit financially more than the large ones.
Here too, Swiss Ski is waiting for an exchange with the FIS. Odermatt and Gut-Behrami may be on their way to vacation for a long time – the work continues behind the scenes.