Aspen Hosts the 2017 Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals
Reaching speeds of up to 75 mph while dropping 2,434 feet, the 25 top-ranked men and women skiers competed in the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals in Aspen, Colorado in front of a worldwide television audience of 100 million viewers.
All eyes of the skiing world were on Aspen for five exciting days from March 15th – 19th as Aspen was transformed into a kind of Olympic Village, openly accommodating 600 official guests, including racers, technicians, support staff, etc. Five types of skiing were highlighted: slalom, giant slalom, downhill, super-G, and combined as skiing aficionados turned their attention to Colorado for the first time since Vail hosted the event in 1997.
An estimated 4,000 spectators gathered at the base of historic Lift 1A to watch and cheer on men and women’s favorites including Bode Miller and Lindsay Vonn. 750 unselfish individuals volunteered their time and talent to help coordinate the five days of activities, as Aspen was lucky enough to beat out Andorra and Lanzerheide, Switzerland as the chosen special site for this year’s races.
Colorado’s very own Mikaela Shiffrin took a commanding lead on Saturday, March 18th when she won the Squaw Valley slalom, with Ilka Stuber of Slovenia in 2nd place, trailing by a distant 378 points. Mikaela stole the spotlight on Sunday as she captured both the crystal globe trophy for 1st place overall in the World Cup as well as another crystal globe for the World Cup slalom title.
Not since 1950 when it hosted the first World Cup competition held outside of Europe has Aspen garnered so much attention and undoubtedly no one walked away disappointed after this amazing ski festival. Congratulations to Aspen native Bill Marolt (U.S. Ski and Snowboard President) for bringing this magnificent event to Aspen along with all of the hotels, shops, and residents of Aspen for making these extraordinary races a tremendous success.
Read more from I On The Scene: HERE.
