Sierra Nevada (ESP) earned the green light from the FIS Coordination Group following the Final Inspection on 17th and 18th October 2016 led by FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis and the Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard Race Directors Joseph Fitzgerald and Uwe Beier and their teams together with the Sierra Nevada 2017 Organising Committee and the Royal Spanish Winter Sports Federation, SpainSnow.
With 25 medal events, planning for the event has required countless hours of preparations by the Local Organising Committee, the Royal Spanish Winter Sports Federation and FIS.
“There have been many important steps and developments since our last inspection in May 2016 including groundwork, volunteer programs, recruitment and education of sports experts. It's a great team to work with and they are very motivated to host a spectacular event”, said Uwe Beier.
Besides inspecting the courses and four finish areas and looking into the sport organisational plans, the Organising Committee also briefed all parties on details surrounding the World Championships such as broadcasting, transportation, accommodation, accreditation and medal ceremonies.
“The course construction for all events is finished and we saw great improvements in the mogul and the slopestyle courses. It is also great to see the number of TV stations that are interested in our disciplines and to meet them here for the World Broadcasters Meeting”, said Joseph Fitzgerald.
800 competitors and 600 coaches from more than 40 countries are expected to compete in Sierra Nevada which has already been successfully tested as host of both disciplines during several FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Cup competitions, in addition to Junior World Championships, as well as the combined 2012/13 season World Cup finals in both disciplines. It goes without saying that the Local Organising Committee - which also staged the 2006 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships - is very experienced in hosting major events.
Alongside the technical inspection, a Committee of Honour of Sierra Nevada 2017 was constituted, representing major public institutions and sports bodies. The city councils of Granada and Monachil, the provincial government, the University of Granada, the Army, the Sports Higher Council, the Royal Spanish Winter Sports Federation and FIS emphasised their engagement during a meeting presided by the Regional Minister of Tourism and Sport of the Autonomous Government of Andalusia.
FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis reported on the significance of these Championships for FIS during the foundation meeting at the Regional Government Headquarters in Granada and of the highly professional collaboration with the Organising Committee. “The political support and engagement is clearly demonstrated by the presence of the leaders of the public authorities in the Sierra Nevada 2017 Committee of Honour and personally in attendance at the signing ceremony. Together with this support and the engagement of the Sierra Nevada team, we are very confident the Championships will be a great success.”
The FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships will run from 5th-19th March 2017. For detailed programme information, please visit the official homepagehttp://sierranevada2017.es/.
Source: fis-ski.com
