The disappointment is huge in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: The Upper Bavarian ski resort has failed for the second time in a row with its application for the Alpine World Ski Championships. Crans Montana from Switzerland was awarded the contract for 2027 by the International Ski Federation (FIS) on Wednesday evening. Two years ago, the people of Garmisch lost to Saalbach-Hinterglemm in the race for the 2025 World Cup.
“We wanted to get away from gigantism”
All in all four applicants had applied to host the 2027 World Ski Championships: Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, Crans-Montana in Switzerland, Soldeu in the Principality in Andorra and Narvik in Norway. The Garmisch Ski Club, the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the German Ski Association had joined forces for the Bavarian orientation.
“It hurts me, especially because we made an offer that no one else has made. We wanted to get away from gigantism and towards sustainability.”, Garmisch’s Mayor Elisabeth Koch sums up her great disappointment in an interview with Bavarian Radio. Tears are also running down the ski club board member Florian Fischer, who cannot understand why the most sustainable concept was apparently not important in the decision.
It would be for Garmisch-Partenkirchen the third World Ski Championships been. World Championship races had already been held in Werdenfelser Land in 1978 and 2011. It is currently unclear whether and when they will apply for an orientation again. But it is already certain that Garmisch will be part of the World Cup calendar again next winter and will host several races.
The Swiss didn’t even expect to win
It was the same for Crans Montana the second application in a row for a World Ski Championships. The Swiss had also failed two years ago when hosting 2025 against Saalbach. Now it worked and the joy after the announcement at the FIS Congress in Milan was huge. The Swiss even had in advance didn’t expect a win, the majorities in the FIS board around the new president Johan Eliasch were too unclear. However, the vote was clearly in favor of Crans Montana: the Swiss received a total of 11 votes, Garmisch and Narvik 3 each and Soldeu 1.
Crans Montana is located in in the French-speaking part of the Alpine republic and has been an integral part of the World Cup calendar for many years. Every year several women’s speed races take place there. The last time the World Ski Championships were held here was in 1987, which turned into a true Swiss festival at the time. 8 out of 10 gold medals stayed in Switzerland.
More world championships awarded
In addition to the Alpine Ski World Championships, other World Championships were also awarded at the FIS Congress in Milan on Wednesday evening. That’s how it will be Ski Flying World Championships 2026 in oberstdorf take place in the Allgäu. the Freestyle-WM 2027 is in Montafon held in Austria. As the only applicant received the Swedish Falun the surcharge for the Nordic World Ski Championships 2027.
Today, Thursday, the FIS committee will deal with numerous other items on the agenda. These include the partly very controversial World Cup calendar for the next season and also some rule adjustments in the individual sports. We will inform you as soon as further details are announced.
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