Norway keeps its women’s speed races in March: Kvitfjell replaces Narvik and will now stage downhill and super-G on two consecutive weeks. On the men’s side, Raimund Plancker takes over as the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s chief race director for the men’s World Cup on Sunday. Two athletes, Valérie Grenier and Katharina Gallhuber, begin the winter in rehabilitation.
Athletes
Valérie Grenier has knee surgery
Valérie GrenierCAN was hurt in training at Sölden on 17 October and withdrew from the season-opening giant slalom. Born in Ottawa, she comes from St Isidore, Ontario, and races for the Mont-Tremblant club in Quebec, according to her FIS profile. She has since undergone surgery. Her anterior cruciate ligament had to be reconstructed again and her medial meniscus repaired, she said on Instagram, as reported by Ski Racing Media on 24 October.
The Canadian expects to start putting weight on the leg soon and says she is highly motivated for rehabilitation. No return date has been set.
Katharina Gallhuber to miss the first slaloms
Katharina GallhuberAUT, the slalom bronze medallist at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, has had knee arthroscopy. She announced it herself on Instagram on Wednesday 28 October, the Austrian broadcaster ORF reported. The Lower Austrian will miss the first three slaloms of the season, at Levi, Gurgl and Killington. The next one is a night race at Courchevel on 22 December.
She gave no date for her return. “My eyes remain fixed on what lies ahead,” she wrote.
Venues and calendar
Kvitfjell takes over Narvik’s races
The women’s speed weekend in March has found a new home. The downhill and super-G planned for Narvik on 12 and 13 March 2027 will be held at Kvitfjell on the same dates, according to a FIS press release of Thursday 29 October, confirmed by the official calendar. The official programme lists two training runs on 10 and 11 March, then the downhill on Friday 12 and the super-G on Saturday 13.
Narvik withdrew on 19 October. The organisers, who are building the course for the 2029 World Championships, believed they could finish, test and homologate it in time, but only at considerable risk, the federation explained.
Kvitfjell, in the Gudbrandsdal valley, hosted the speed events of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. It will now welcome downhillers for two weeks in a row. The men race there seven days earlier, with training from 3 to 5 March, the downhill on the 6th and the super-G on the 7th, according to the FIS calendar. The women first stop in Soldeu, Andorra, on 6 and 7 March.
Raimund Plancker to run the men’s tour from Levi
Markus Waldner’s successor has been named. Raimund Plancker becomes chief race director for the men’s World Cup on 1 November, FIS announced on 26 October. A native of Val Gardena, he spent around ten years with Italian national teams before joining the federation. Since 2022 he had been assistant race director for the men’s speed events.
His first race in charge will be the men’s slalom at Levi. Waldner will personally support the handover. Hannes Trinkl remains in charge of speed and Janez Hladnik of the technical events, while a new assistant will be recruited. “I am proud and honored to take on this responsibility,” Plancker said.
Levi: the rain has stopped, the cold has not arrived
With just over two weeks to go before the opening slaloms, Ski25 has been watching the slope on the resort’s webcams. On 27 and 28 October they showed rain at +7°C on soaked machine-made snow. By midday on Thursday 29 it was dry, at +5°C. A white strip covered the full visible height of the run, and a slalom training session was under way at the bottom.
Forecasts from the Finnish Meteorological Institute and yr.no, checked on 28 October, show only a slight cooling from the 30th, with nights around −1 to −2°C. Eetu Rimo, a meteorologist at the institute, told the Finnish public broadcaster Yle on Thursday 29 October that Lapland had hardly seen such warmth in 30 years.
For the race itself, Levi is counting on its reserve. The resort has set aside stockpiled snow for the slalom alone, and says it has agreed with FIS that the event will go ahead. According to Jouni Palosaari of Levi Ski Resort, quoted by Yle, spreading the snow on the course begins on Sunday 1 November. The slope is due to be ready for the FIS snow control by Thursday 5 November. Last year, the organisers received the green light on 6 November.
Every date of the 2027 season, women and men. Open the calendar