Alpine Canada eyes Panorama or Whistler, B.C., for future men's World Cup downhills

Whistler and Panorama, B.C., are candidates to host men's World Cup downhill ski races in the future.

Alpine Canada president and chief executive officer Therese Brisson intends to find a replacement in Western Canada for the men's speed event held annually until 2022 in Lake Louise, Alta.

"What we really want to do is build, I'll call it a national alpine speed training centre. There are not too many places in the country where our athletes can train speed in early winter, late spring," Brisson said.

"Where can we build a national training centre for speed with safety equipment, air fence, crash pads and where do we have the right weather patterns for that? And also, what would be a sensible location for a World Cup?

"There's places like Panorama and Whistler that rise to the top."

Staging a World Cup in Canada is crucial for Alpine Canada on multiple fronts, including its business operations. The cancellation of women's giant slalom races Saturday and Sunday in Mont-Tremblant, Que., because of lack of snow and warm temperatures was a blow.

Mont-Tremblant's races drew an announced 15,000 spectators in 2023, when World Cup returned to the resort town northwest of Montreal after a 40-year absence.

"It's a bit of a stalling of the momentum of everything we were building around that event. Motivating to have an even better event next year," Brisson said.

"Especially for our Canadian athletes to not have that chance to race at home, they don't get to race at home very often. It's certainly disappointing for them."

She estimates Alpine Canada loses at least $1 million on the cancellation in lost fundraising opportunities and race costs that can't be recovered.

"If we were to have the event, it would be a significant revenue