It’s ready. The new finish area at Rumerlo has been delivered right on time as per Fondazione Cortina 2021’s forecast, albeit in its temporary guise, but already equipped to host the athletes of the international ski circuit during the 2019 World Cup in Cortina.
Everything has changed up at Rumerlo and now the finish area looks like a perfectly flat table waiting to be laid with impressive and innovative places: starting with the new Audi Cortina Lounge, a stunning terrace overlooking the Ampezzo valley, the Sub Media Center and the facilities for guests and the public. The new finish area will be the focus of attention during the 2021 World Championships, as most of the races will finish there, giving the press and public an exclusive vantage point to enjoy the spectacular event. It will be just like sitting in the middle of a UNESCO World Heritage Site: nature and sport will merge right before the eyes of the roughly 150,000 spectators who are expected to attend. While the works will be completed during the summer of 2019 (last-minute details, the bypass and tunnel), visitors to Rumerlo today can already visualize what is in store.
Anyone who glances towards the valley will see how quickly the works to prepare the Druscié slope, which will host the slalom during the Championships, are coming on. It is actually a double slope and will be a great tourist attraction in the future, as it is south-facing and has a great history behind it. It was the slalom course at the 1956 Winter Olympics, when Toni Sailer and his rivals battled it out for victory and will be back with a fabulous new look and ready to hand out medals in just over two years. A new cable car is scheduled to reach Col Druscié next year which, together with the ski-weg which is already in the pipeline, will take fans to the race slopes – and enable them to go from Rumerlo to Druscié – without having to use their cars. The slope has already been equipped with a new snowmaking system, new cables and timing system and will be widened and given a completely new finish area. It will undoubtedly be the latest jewel in the crown of the Queen of the Dolomites.
And what about old faithful Olympia? One of the historic slopes on the women’s international Alpine ski circuit which will reach the ripe old age of thirty this year, with 27 consecutive World Cups to its name? No one was ever in any doubt, it will still be the undisputed protagonist of the 2019 World Cup and will be ready to stage the competition in the years to come: with a quick touch up to its make-up, it will be on top form, just like the great lady it is.
Close to Olympia is the newcomer – Vertigine – the men’s downhill course which boasts the most hair-raising gradients of them all, an average of 56% up to a maximum of 71% and which is due to be inaugurated at the National Championships in March 2019. The groundworks have already been completed for this, the latest arrival to the Championship courses, and just the sight of it from the terrace at Rumerlo is enough to send a shiver down your spine.