Next weekend the last two races of the Alpine Ski World Cup season before the Finals in Saalbach will be held in Åre: a Giant Slalom and a Slalom.
*According to statements to Blick by US communications director Megan Harrod, Mikaela Shiffrin could return on Sunday in the Slalom in Are, Sweden, but skip the Giant Slalom on Saturday.
Åre has hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships three times, the last one in 2019.
Åre first hosted the Alpine World Ski Championships for the first time in 1954.
In 2007, and 2019 again, Åre hosted the Alpine World Ski Championships.
The 2007 Championships made a permanent impression on Åre’s ski system and the village, as a new Ladies’ Downhill was built, commercial space doubled and a 130-meter-long tunnel replaced the bridge that once led the world championship slopes across the E14. The 39th Alpine World Ski Championships was a success for both the host and the Swedish team.
Åre also has great experience organizing Alpine World Cup races. Åre Slalomklubb and Världscupbolaget have organized more than 100 World Cup races over the years, with great success. Thanks to the now legendary Åre son Bibbo Nordenskiöld’s initiative, the Alpine World Cup was first held in Åre in 1969.
In 2024 Åre welcome a race of the Alpine World Cup for the 110th and 111th time.
Are (SWE)
March 9th Giant Slalom / Women 1st run 10:30 - 2nd run 13:00 CET
March 10th Slalom / Women 1st run 10:30 - 2nd run 13:30 CET
Technical Data
Giant Slalom
Course Name: Störtloppsbacken
Start Altitude: 736m
Finish Altitude: 396m
Vertical Drop: 340m
Average Gradient: 31%
Slalom
Course Name: Störtloppsbacken
Start Altitude: 597m
Finish Altitude: 396m
Vertical Drop: 201m
Average Gradient: 29%
Last season, at the same venue where she won her first World Cup race, Mikaela Shiffrin achieved her 86th victory and equaled Ingemar Stenmark's record for World Cup victories. She won her first World Cup race in Åre in December 2012 when she was only 17 years old.
One day later, Mikaela Shiffrin set a new record for the most ever Alpine Ski World Cup wins of all time. Just 24 hours after equaling Ingemar Stenmark's record for World Cup victories, Mikaela Shiffrin achieved a new milestone with her 87th World Cup win two days before her 28th birthday on March 13th. Her win in Åre makes her, statistically, the most successful skier in Alpine Ski World Cup history.
Shiffrin has won a record five Slalom World Cup events in Åre, including her first career World Cup victory on December 20, 2012.
The village of Åre and its surroundings have a long alpine tradition and the tourist industry has been an important source of income for the village since the mid-1800s.
Interest in winters in Åre increased in the 1900s and the construction of the funicular, Bergbanan, in 1910 was Åre’s start as a winter resort. The Second World War temporarily stopped development, but during the 1950s and 60s Åre, just like much of the rest of Europe, started to recover. Åre’s true golden years began at the end of the 1970s and, thanks to Ingemar Stenmark and the "Åre Project", which facilitated huge investment in Åre, interest boomed in the ski resort.
Nowadays, Åre, a small and rural town located in the Jämtland region, amid the Swedish mountains, and with 1400 inhabitants, welcomes around 800 000 visitors yearly. Around 11,000 of Jämtland’s 126,000 inhabitants live in Åre Municipality. The county is about the same size as Switzerland (which has eight million inhabitants).