Summer is hurtling toward autumn in great leaps, and in Madonna di Campiglio, in the splendid setting of the Brenta Dolomites, the winter season feels closer every day.
2012 marks the return, after a seven-year absence, of the Men’s World Cup Slalom on the legendary Canalone Miramonti, with the famed 3-Tre ready to celebrate 59 years of history on Tuesday, December 18.
While its return to the calendar has been known for some time, today an inspection took place along the steep, captivating slope that will host one of the most eagerly awaited night slalom battles, attended by Men’s World Cup Race Director Günter Hujara, the director and technical crew from Infront who will handle television production, and the heads of the organizing committee led by President Lorenzo Conci and Chief of Race Adriano Alimonta.
It was, naturally, a technical meeting to go over the final details and venue setups before the snow arrives.
Sandro DeManincor, the 55-year-old Trentino director of major winter sports events, will lead the team from Infront, the event’s host broadcaster, and outlined the impressive technical deployment. The Madonna di Campiglio slalom will be covered by 15 cameras that will bring back to screens around the world the thrilling battles that fired up fans until 2005, the date of the last World Cup edition of the 3-Tre, whose roll of honor features the biggest names in world skiing.
At the end of the meeting, Günter Hujara discussed with the organizers the best solutions for treating athletes and spectators to a great day of sport. Compared to the past, Hujara requested raising the finish line by nearly 3 meters to leave more room for the finish area, inquired about the two giant video screens on which spectators will be able to follow the highlights of the race, and also spoke about the future.
“Not having had a venue like Madonna di Campiglio on the World Cup circuit for so long was a shame,” said Hujara, “and that is why today the World Cup is absolutely delighted to welcome the 3-Tre back to the circuit. Times and technology have changed, and the venue in Madonna di Campiglio today does not yet fully meet the new requirements and standards demanded by the World Cup. Like other prestigious resorts of the caliber of Chamonix or Kitzbühel, Campiglio will also have to adapt, as indeed it is already doing with the project that has been approved and funded. Neither the organizational readiness nor the tradition of this resort is in question—the history of Madonna di Campiglio is known to everyone, and its return to the World Cup after so many years is eagerly awaited. However, we must realize that over the years many structural, technical, and safety requirements have changed, and Madonna di Campiglio is aligning itself with those standards with the aim of becoming a permanent fixture on the calendar.
We now enjoy an excellent dialogue and an equally fruitful relationship with the Italian Federation, which has led to a shared proposal to alternate every two years between the slaloms in Alta Badia and Madonna di Campiglio. This agreement will be presented—successfully, we hope—at the FIS autumn meeting in Zurich in early October, also counting on the fact that both resorts are in the same region and in the Dolomites area, making them easy to manage in terms of logistics and transport. Throughout all of this, however, the priority remains the modernization of the Madonna di Campiglio venue, which, I repeat, by 2014 will have to present a completely upgraded facility for its World Cup slalom.”
Lorenzo Conci took note and confirmed the committee’s commitment to carrying out the World Cup return project, which also includes the renovation and upgrading of the ski “stadium”—work that, as mentioned, has already been approved and funded.
Right now, of course, all attention is focused on organizational preparations. More than 150 crew members have already been “enlisted,” all of them volunteers, just like in the heyday of the 3-Tre. Madonna di Campiglio, Trentino, and the wider world of sport have responded with great determination.
On December 18, everyone will be in the grandstands cheering on—hopefully—an Italian on the podium, or better yet on the top step, just as happened on December 12, 2005, the date of the last World Cup edition of the 3-Tre (the 55th), which celebrated a masterclass slalom win by Giorgio Rocca.
More info at www.3trecampiglio.it
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