Boí Taüll will organize the 2023 Ski Mountaineering World Championships
Published:
Jun 13, 2022
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1 Ski Mountaineering World Championships 2022 a success in Boí Taüll
2 The keys to awarding the Championships
3 Five modalities in Olympic format
4 Bet on high-level sport
Ski Mountaineering World Championships 2022 a success in Boí Taüll
After the organizational success of the European Ski Mountaineering Championships held in February 2022, the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) revalidates its confidence in the resort managed by FGC
The Mountain Ski World Championships will visit the Ribagorza resort from February 26 to March 4, 2023 with the novelty of the Team event.
With this event, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya demonstrates, once again, its commitment to promoting competitive sports and, at the same time, its willingness to promote new disciplines in resorts such as ski mountaineering
The International Federation (ISMF) has selected Boí Taüll's candidacy to celebrate the next edition of the 2023 Mountain Ski World Championships, a competition that will be held from February 26 to March 4. Thus, the Ribagorza resort will once again position itself at the epicentre of the international mountain skiing calendar and it is expected to far exceed the 20 participating countries in the 2022 Europeans.
The candidacy has had the support of the Spanish Federation of Mountain and Climbing Sports (FEDME) and the Federation of Excursionists of Catalonia (FEEC), as well as the Consell Català de l'Esport and the Diputació de Lleida, among other institutions.
The keys to awarding the Championships
The organizational success of the European Ski Mountaineering Championships held in February 2022 has been decisive in the designation of the Ribagorza resort to host the next celebration of the World Championships.
Last season, Boí Taüll demonstrated with flying colours, its great ability to launch an international event of such magnitude thanks to the commitment of a great organizational team, the effort and the motivation of all the agents involved. The work carried out from the territory, from the FEEC, the FEDME and the ski resort itself with the full support of Ferrocarrils, made it possible to make a dream come true.
A great event that grows in importance and magnitude for the next season. The good work done in two editions of the Spanish Championships and various events of the Spanish Cup in recent years has also been key in this race to win the World Cups, providing experience and filming to an already consolidated organizational team.
After the experience of the 2022 European Championships, the granting of the World Cups to Boí Taüll has been determined by the facilities at the infrastructure level for the production of the television signal, which was already broadcast internationally last year. The diversity of the terrain has also been key, around a single base with all the services in Pla de Vaques, and the wide possibilities that it allows for the layouts of the five modalities that are on the event calendar.
Boí Taüll has all the necessary services to host such a large event. In this sense, then, it becomes a stage with all the necessary resources, with centralized services and operating centres, which facilitate the dynamics and organizational success in this type of event.
Characteristics that add to the hotel and restaurant capacity of the Boí Valley, located very close to the competition base, which translates into a high benefit for athletes and a minimization of the environmental impact of travel.
The granting of the World Championships is of vital importance, especially if one takes into account that ski mountaineering will be incorporated as a new Olympic discipline at the next Winter Games in Milan - Cortina in 2026.
Ski mountaineering was already a sports specialty at the last Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne 2020, where three medals were won (one gold and three bronze) thanks to the extraordinary role of the Catalan athletes Maria Costa, Ares Torra, Ot Ferrer and Marc Radua.
The Mountain Ski World Championships will have a positive impact on the region's economy, since this sporting event will once again put the Boi Taüll ski resort and, consequently, the Boí Valley and the Lleida Pyrenees, on the map internationally as a top-level winter sports and tourism destination.
Boí Taüll presents itself to the world with a decided orientation towards mountain skiing and is configured as a very versatile resort that is advanced in time.
Five modalities in Olympic format
For 2023, the format of the Europeans will be maintained, which for the first time will be the one that will be held at the Cortina-Milano 2026 Olympics. The difference with traditional mountain races is that with the Olympic format they are more affordable in the face of the spectators present and in the television production with a closer and more colorful layout. Both the ISMF and the majority of technicians and athletes who were in Boí Taüll in 2022 valued the routes positively, considering that the resort offers an ideal playing field.
As for the modalities, it will be carried out on:
- Sprint , which is the test that lasts about 3 minutes, there is a 80 m positive difference in altitude and it can be seen from the base resort.
- The Individual , which has a positive slope between 1,600 and 1,900, depending on the range, and takes place on different itineraries around the top of Puig Falcó (2,750 m).
- La Vertical , which will follow the same route as in 2022 with a 500m drop for all categories starting at Pla de Vaques and arriving at Coll de Roies.
- The Relays , where the route that they liked so much is also repeated and they participate by mixed selection in pairs made up of a woman and a man, each one goes around the area of the black Slalom slope 2 times.
- The race for Teams of two people. This is a novelty for 2023. Work is being done on the route to make it as attractive, demanding and technical as possible, since they end up adding between 2,100 to 2,600 m of positive elevation gain.
Bet on high-level sport
Once again, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya demonstrates its constant commitment to high-level sport. An interest that allows Boí Taüll to be positioned on the international map not only as a tourist facility, but also the Boí Valley and the Catalan Pyrenees as specialized destinations.
But FGC's commitment goes further, since for years it has been committed to offering and expanding its wide range of proposals in mountain resorts. In fact, for years now, it has been making new innovative products available to users, such as mountain skiing, a sport that can be practiced in Boí Taüll on its four itineraries of varying difficulty, level and length, marked out and aimed at different levels of skiers fond of practicing skimo.