Alpine skiers face 'impossible' travel challenges with 45-race World Cup schedule

SOELDEN, Austria — Austrian skier Marco Schwarz would have to rack up more air miles than a trip around the world if he wants to compete in all races of the men’s World Cup season.

He would love to, but competing in 45 events between this weekend’s opener and the mid-March finals just isn't doable.

“I am aware that all 45 races will not be possible. It makes no sense. But until Christmas I will race everything,” Schwarz said Friday, one day before a women's giant slalom on the Rettenbachferner glacier in his native Austria kicks off the season, followed by the men's race Sunday.

Formerly a slalom and GS specialist, Schwarz ventured into speed racing in recent seasons – with success. As one of the few all-rounders on the tour, the Austrian had initially said he planned to start every race in the new campaign.

But the race calendar is bigger than ever in the 57-year history of Alpine skiing’s World Cup, with 90 events evenly divided between the men and the women in a season not interrupted by the Olympics or world championships.

Traveling between the 21 venues in Europe and North America hosting the 45 men’s races requires a journey of more than 43,600 kilometers (27,100 miles) in total. Racers will travel twice between the continents, but the total trip could have been even longer if the schedule had included stops in Canada or Asia as in some previous years.

The distances between subsequent venues vary from 30 kilometers between Val Gardena and Alta Badia in Italy, to 8,800 kilometers between Aspen in Colorado and Kranjska Gora in Slovenia.

While racers like Schwarz embrace the challenge of a busy season, others question the scheduling, not least from an environmental perspective.

“Of course, these are a lot of races. But there are only few racers who compete in three or all four disciplines. For someone who wants to race everything, it is a lot,” Schwarz said.

The Austrian men’s head coach, Marko Pfeifer, supported Schwarz’ ambitions but said he will evaluate the plan week after week.

“One thing is for sure, doing all races is impossible – especially when you talk about the downhills in Kitzbuehel and Bormio, which cost so much mental energy," Pfeifer said. "We will look at the various cup standings and decide from there.”

Slovakian former overall champion Petra Vlhova was the last skier to compete in every single race of a season, but that was in 2020-21 when the women’s World Cup included just 31 events, plus the world championships.

But trying it this season?

“For someone like Marco, it would be insane," Pfeifer said. "The schedule is too tight for an all-rounder.”

Mikaela Shiffrin also won't be at every start gate.

The five-time overall champion set a record last season when she reached 88 career World Cup wins across six different disciplines and would be a contender for the win in every race. But like in previous years, she is planning to skip several events, according to the U.S. ski team’s Alpine director, Patrick Riml.

“She wants to be prepared, and if she doesn’t feel like she’s prepared for an upcoming weekend, then she will not participate,” Riml said. “So, it’s very strategic and she doesn’t have a problem to skip races because if she goes there, she wants to perform her best.”

A 45-race schedule across two continents also raises environmental questions at a time when the International Ski and Snowboard Federation is trying to reduce its carbon footprint.

Flying back and forth from Europe twice for two blocks of races in the United States should not be necessary, according to Shiffrin’s boyfriend, World Cup downhill champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

“Try to be a little bit more flexible because we have the possibility to do it. We might not have to travel two times to the U.S.,” the Norwegian said.

Shiffrin and Kilde were among a group of skiers who signed a petition last February to urge the federation to take action over climate change, after warm weather and a lack of snow wiped out nearly a month of racing at the start of last season.

Kilde said that 45 races was “a little bit too much” and that FIS should give more focus “to the legendary races” instead of trying to just “do more, more, more.”

His Norwegian teammate Henrik Kristoffersen agreed – but only partly.

“Sure, you can limit the traveling if you change the plan a little bit,” the slalom world champion said. “But that’s not up to me to decide. I’m the skier. I focus on the skiing. I travel where I have to travel, and that’s just how it is for me.”

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Eric Willemsen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eWilmedia