Aleksander Aamodt Kilde has torn his Achilles tendon in training in Chile, ten days before the season opens. In Sölden, FIS has cleared the Rettenbach course, where Petra Vlhová will make her World Cup return and where skis will now be weighed.
Athletes
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde tears his Achilles tendon
Aleksander Aamodt KildeNOR tore his Achilles tendon in a fall during downhill training in Chile on Wednesday 14 October, the Norwegian Ski Federation announced the following day. He is returning to Innsbruck, where his regular medical team will carry out further tests and decide on treatment. No timeline has been given, and further updates are promised (Norwegian Ski Federation).
For the 2020 overall World Cup champion, it is another setback after the long absence that followed his crash in Wengen in January 2024.
Petra Vlhová returns to the World Cup at Sölden
© Elias Koli / @worldcuplevi
Petra VlhováSVK will make her World Cup comeback in the Sölden giant slalom on 24 October. The Slovak announced the plan at a news conference on 9 October and intends to race both slalom and giant slalom this winter (Ski Racing Media).
Her last World Cup race was in Jasná in January 2024, where she sustained a serious knee injury. She returned to competition at the Milan-Cortina Olympics and finished 20th in the slalom. Since May she has been working with the Austrian coach Mario Rafetzeder (TASR). On 10 October her home town of Liptovský Mikuláš unveiled a sculpture pairing her with two Olympic canoe slalom champions, Michal Martikán and Elena Kaliská.
Rules and equipment
Skis on the scales from the opener
For the first time, FIS has set a maximum weight for race skis. Its equipment specifications for the 2027 season, published on 8 October, apply from Sölden. The limit covers each fully assembled ski: the ski itself, the binding and the plate, the raised interface between the two. It ranges from 4.5 kg in women’s slalom to 5.3 kg in men’s downhill. This winter, a tolerance of 300 g applies in downhill and super-G (FIS).
FIS presents the rule as a safety measure, but it has divided the circuit. According to Blick, Rossignol’s racing director Stéphane Mougin points out that no study supports it and argues that weight distribution matters more. At Atomic, Christian Höflehner fears further reductions. Stöckli, Head and Rossignol skis already met the limits, while Atomic and Salomon have had to modify some models (blue News).
Venues and calendar
Green light for the Rettenbach
The snow control on 15 October was positive, and FIS has confirmed the two opening giant slaloms on the Rettenbach glacier. The women race on Saturday 24 October and the men on Sunday 25 October, with runs at 10:00 and 13:00 local time. FIS race director Janez Hladnik praised the work of the team led by course chief Isidor Grüner (ORF).
There is a new face at the start. Florian Scheiber, a 39-year-old former Austrian downhiller, is chief of race in Sölden for the first time. His best World Cup result was fourth in the Beaver Creek downhill in 2012 (ORF).
Zermatt targets March 2028 on the Gornergrat
Zermatt is investing around 13 million Swiss francs to turn an existing run on the Gornergrat into a 3.2 km downhill, designed by Didier Défago with help from Pirmin Zurbriggen. According to Blick, the resort is on the provisional calendar for the 2028 season, which begins in autumn 2027, with a men’s downhill in March 2028. Hannes Trinkl, who oversees men’s speed events at FIS, would prefer more testing and a 2029 debut. The resort’s previous project, a cross-border downhill from Zermatt to Cervinia, never took place: eight races were cancelled over two winters.
Federations
Italy’s winter sports federation without a president
The Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) failed to elect a president in Verona on 10 October. Flavio Roda, in office since 2012, won 57.88 per cent of the vote, short of the two-thirds he needed for a fourth term. His main challenger, Antonio Noris, took 35.97 per cent. A new assembly must be held within 90 days, without Roda, who cannot stand again. He has not ruled out resigning before then, which would place the federation under an interim commissioner (La Nuova Venezia, Neveitalia).
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