The 47th Alpine World Ski Championships will be held in Méribel and Courchevel from February 6th to 19th. These two ski resorts in the beautiful French Alps will jointly hold the most important event in the world of skiing.
The Roc de Fer racecourse in Méribel will host the Women’s events at the 2023 World Championships. In addition to the Women’s races, Méribel will host the Parallel events (team and individual) on the Corbey stadium on the final slopes of the Roc de Fer.
Courchevel-Méribel 2023 will be a chance to rediscover Méribel’s Olympic Roc de Fer piste (which hosted the 2015 and 2022 World Cup Finals).
The Roc de Fer track is not one of the classics on the World Cup circuit, but its history is filled with great exploits. It was the venue for the women’s Alpine skiing competitions at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, where the Swedish Pernilla Wiberg and the Italian Deborah Compagnoni celebrated wins.
For 20 years it lay dormant, until in 2013 its history resumed when a Women’s World Cup Downhill was held here. Two years later in 2015, women and men competed on this legendary piste for the World Cup Finals, which was a sporting and popular success. It was back in the spotlight in 2022 with the men’s and women’s technical events of the World Cup Finals, when many competitors discovered it for the first time.
Since 2015, few female skiers have had the opportunity to ski and master this course, so we can only imagine what the competitions will be like next weeks.
The start of the Women's Downhill in the Roc de Fer track is located at 2150 meters in the Petit Col. The first part is fairly flat, a gliding section wher ski tests and tuning willbe very important for the racers.
A hilly part with some bumps, one of wich is called "Bosse des Anglais", a 20 meter jump. The first part will be important for the racers, they must be as fast as possible and try to get ahead on this gliding section.
After 25 seconds of racing, especially on a rather flat part, this is where things get serious for the women.
They will have to really go for it to get the best time. And that will be interesting to watch for all the spectators.
After passing the "Passage du Tunnel" racers come to the first intense turn. A right-hand turn, and after this, it's very intense, a very demanding turn "La Traverse" where you transfer your weight, go over a bump to the start of the Giant Slalom and then this rolling part bring racers to "Le Goulet". The course narrows and above all, the Downhill enters on an area of big contrasts between light and shade.
After that racers will dive onto the final wall at the "Sommet du Stade", the steepest wall on the Rod de Fer track.
Women Downhill
Start: 2150 m
Finish: 1465 m
Vertical Drop: 685 m
Length: 2413 m
Max Gradient: 55%
Min Gradient: 9%
Average Gradient: 27%
Women Super-G and Alpine Combined
Start: 2065 m
Finish: 1465 m
Vertical Drop: 600 m
Length: 2204 m
Max Gradient: 55%
Min Gradient: 9%
Average Gradient: 26%
Women Slalom and Alpine Combined
Start: 1630 m
Finish: 1432 m
Vertical Drop: 198 m
Length: 500m
Max Gradient: 55%
Min Gradient: 11%
Average Gradient: 39%
Women Giant Slalom
Start: 1830 m
Finish: 1452 m
Vertical Drop: 378 m
Length: 1312 m
Max Gradient: 55%
Min Gradient: 9%
Average Gradient: 30%
Women and Men Parallel / Team Parallel
Start: 1555 m
Finish: 1432 m
Vertical Drop: 123 m
Length: 360 m
Max Gradient: 50%
Min Gradient: 25%
Average Gradient: 35%