VAL GARDENA MAGAZINE
1970: THE WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS COME TO VAL GARDENA
F
rom February 7th to 15th 1970, the 21st Alpine Ski World Championships were held in Val Gardena. A good 4 years earlier, in 1966, the 3 valley communities of Selva, Santa Cristina and Ortisei decided to put their name forward to host the event, competing with a number of famed ski resorts including Davos (Switzerland), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), Kitzbühel (Austria), Banff (Canada), Naeba (Japan) und Jackson Hole (USA). On May 20th 1967, at the FIS Congress in Beirut (Lebanon), the final decision was made, and the ho-
6 | VAL GARDENA | DOLOMITES |
nour of hosting the Alpine Ski World Championships was granted to Val Gardena. Alongside the local athletes, one of the driving forces in the organisation of the World Ski Championships was Tschucky Kerschbaumer, Edmund Dellago and Erich Demetz, who later went on to become FISI Vice President, CO.SCU.MA Commissioner and President of the FIS World Cup Committee. Athletes from 28 different nation participated in the Championships, and six races were held on the slopes of Val Gardena. The men’s and
women’s slalom took place on the Ronc slope on Ortisei; the men’s and women’s giant slalom was held on the No.3 slope of the Ciampinoi. The women’s downhill was raced on the Cir slope of the Dantercepies, ending in Vallunga, while the men’s downhill was held on the Saslong slope. The victory for both the men’s and women’s downhill went to Switzerland with Bernhard Russi and Annerösli Zyrd. Austria’s Karl Schranz took the men’s giant slalom title, while Betsy Gifford from Canada won the women’s event, Jean-Noel Augert sped to victory in
