In a few weeks Corina d’Ampezzo will host the FIS Alpine World Ski Championship. This is a skiing location with a ton of history. Cortina hosted the second edition of the Alpine World Championships in 1932 as Alpine Skiing was not part of the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.
The first ever televised Winter Olympics was held in Cortina in 1956, with “the Blitz from Kitz”, Toni Sailer, winning three gold medal.
70 years later the Winter Olympics of 2026 will be hosted by Milan Cortina, with the Alpine, Bobsleigh, Luge, Skeleton and Curling events hosted in Cortina and the Biathlon events in near-by Antholz.
Cortina usually hosts several ladies world cup speed events in January every season. The picturesque Tofana course has long been cherish by several of the best female athletes like former American superstars; Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso. However it will mean a welcome return for the men after not having raced here for some 30 years.
The Italians have brilliant chances to grab medals during their home championships with athletes like Marta Bassino, Federica Brignone, Sofia Goggia and Dominik Paris all likely to take part.
Marta Bassino has dominated the women’s Giant Slalom events so far this year and must at the moment be the main favourite to win this event.
Federica Brignone won the overall world cup last season and even if the current season has been somewhat disappointing this far, she is surely a medal contender in several events.
Sofia Goggia is skiing with an aggressiveness rarely seen and won the downhill race in St Anton on January 9th. She is one of the favourites in several events.
Dominik Paris is back after a bad ACL injury sustained about a year ago, in January 2020, put a premature end to his previous season. At his best he can surely challenge for the podium in both the Downhill and Super-G events.
Luca de Aliprandini has chances in the men’s Giant Slalom and Alex Vinatzer is very fast in the Slalom, even if he has failed to finish several races recently.
If you are rather looking to take in the beauty of the area itself, we recommend taking a look at Neveitalia and their Webcam Cortina section.
Take our word for it, even if these webcams gives you some impression of the beauty of scenery of the location it looks infinitely better in real life.
The Ampezzo valley is surrounded by the Dolomites and monumental peaks like the Cristallo, the Tofane, the Cinque Torri as well as several others. These mountain peaks are truly some of the most beautiful in the world. All of them are connected to a ski bus and you can take a fascinating adventure by racing on over than 155 kilometers of a high quality slopes and feel yourself as an Olympic champion.
The village of Cortina is truly in the heart of the Dolomites and this area has several great hotels and restaurants. Even if you are unlikely to be able to visit it during the 2021 world championships due to the Corona virus it is well worth a trip when the world is more back to normality.
