For the first time in 24 years — and only the fourth time ever — Copper Mountain will host World Cup ski racing this November, just nine weeks before the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
Four days of racing will begin on Thanksgiving Day. The women will race slalom and giant slalom, which happen to be the best events for Colorado native Mikaela Shiffrin, the winningest World Cup racer in history. The men will race giant slalom and super-G.
Copper Mountain has hosted World Cup racing only three times. In 1976, the men and women raced slalom and giant slalom three weeks after the Innsbruck Winter Olympics, where Germany’s Rosi Mittermaier won three medals. Mittermaier then won both women’s races at Copper, which subsequently named the slope where she competed “Rosi’s Run,” a name it still holds.
On two other occasions, Copper Mountain stepped in to host November women’s slalom and giant slalom World Cup races after resorts that had been scheduled to host those races lacked suitable snow conditions for racing. In 1999, Copper took races that had been scheduled for Park City, Utah. Two years later, it stepped in for Aspen.
The week following the Copper Mountain races, the men will race at Beaver Creek, which has been a regular stop for men’s downhill, super-G and giant slalom since 1997.
It’s rare for the World Cup to schedule men’s and women’s races over four days at the same venue. Women’s giant slalom and slalom races normally are held Thanksgiving weekend in Killington, Vt., but that resort is replacing a lift that serves the race venue. The races are expected to return to Killington in 2026, a two-hour drive from Burke Mountain Academy, where Shiffrin went to high school.
“Although I’ll miss racing at Killington this Thanksgiving, I am so excited that World Cup ski racing is coming to Copper Mountain for men and women,” Shiffrin said in a news release. “Athletes from all around the globe come to Copper early in the season especially, and in springtime, to get the best training in the world and best preparation for World Cup racing. It’s so exciting to see Copper as a true World Cup race venue, and I’m particularly excited because it’s so close to home. I can sleep in my own bed, and my community can come and experience it.”
While World Cup racing is rare for Copper Mountain, many elite racers are very familiar with the venue. Since 2011, Copper Mountain has partnered with the U.S. Ski Team to provide preseason race training at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center when most resorts around the world don’t have temperatures and snowmaking equipment capable of providing full-on downhill tracks. Some other nations also train at that venue before the downhill season starts.
Copper also hosts the U.S. Grand Prix for elite halfpipe competitors annually.
“Hosting an alpine World Cup event at Copper is a natural fit for us,” said Dustin Lyman, Copper Mountain president and general manager. “We are recognized as ‘the athlete’s mountain,’ in part because the world’s elite snow sports athletes train and compete on our venues. Now, we’re excited to showcase our exceptional racing venue on the world stage.”
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