ADELBODEN, Switzerland — I have some thoughts about how to make the World Cup more interesting and entertaining. It’s a radical idea, but I think it has merit.
My idea is inspired by tennis and golf — the U.S. Open and major events like that. Instead of having World Cup races scattered all over the place, there would be a U.S. Open of skiing, an Austrian Open, a Swiss Open, etc. Each event would have all four events in the course of a week, in the same place, men and women.
There would be two-week breaks between each open, when athletes could train. The way it is now, if you take part in all four events, you’re racing every weekend and you never have time to train and improve in your weak events.
I think the races would mean more if we were racing every other weekend and everybody was in the same place. There would be about the same number of races you have now, but they would be more focused and a lot more prestigious.
I’d have limited fields, because nobody really watches the racers after No. 30 on the World Cup now. For those not ranked in the top 30, I’d have a World Cup “B” circuit, which would be used as a qualifier for the main tour.
The races would be a lot more compact. Instead of having two or three hours between runs of a slalom or giant slalom, there would be an hour break between runs. It would be almost nonstop action if, for example, the first run of the men’s slalom was immediately followed by the first run of the women’s slalom, then the second runs in quick succession. The atmosphere always is better when the men and women are at the same venue, but it doesn’t happen very often.
There would still be the same points system for determining season World Cup champions.
That could bring a lot more attention if there were races near big urban areas instead of little podunk valleys in Austria. When there are a lot of fans at a race, it gives the sport more credibility. It makes it more intense for the racer as well.
Some think we should race on ski-company teams, more like the way cycling teams are sponsored, rather than for our countries on the Olympic model. I still think racing under your country’s flag is a neat thing.
Lindsey Vonn diary
Vonn, who won the downhill last weekend in Sestriere, Italy, was traveling back to the United States for a week’s vacation and was unavailable for this week’s installment. Her diary is scheduled to return next week.
Ted Ligety, who ranks among the top 10 in World Cup giant slalom and slalom, reports regularly in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer.
