2023 Alpine Ski Championships in Courchevel & Meribel
2nd February 2023
Last modified on February 17th, 2023
PlanetSKI has been in the resorts looking at the two weeks of competition that are now underway. We look at the British squad, how they’re doing so far & how to watch the action live on the BBC. UPDATED
Updated, Friday 17th February:
Driving up the road to the host resorts the anticipation builds.
The road is adorned with posters, adverts and promotions.
2023 Alpine World Championships. Image © PlanetSKI
2023 Alpine World Championships. Image © PlanetSKI
The best skiers on the planet are in town.
It’s the fourth time that the Alpine World Championships are being held in the French Alps :
- 1937 – Chamonix,
- 1962 – Chamonix
- 2009 – Val d’Isere
We’ll look later at what it means for the two resorts themselves, and the wider Les3Vallees ski area, to hold the prestigious event.
But first the sporting competition itself.
2023 Alpine World Championships. Image © PlanetSKI
Les Menuires. Image © Chris Moran/PlanetSKI
600 athletes from 75 countries are competing for 13 sets of medals across six disciplines:
- Downhill
- Super G
- Giant Slalom
- Slalom
- Combined
- Parallel Slalom
British eyes will be firmly focused on Dave Ryding in the slalom who has the best chance of making the podium, though he is seen as something of an outside contender.
A contender nonetheless.
PlanetSKI watched him in Chamonix last weekend in the final race before the World Championships.
He did not finish his second run but was in the Top Ten in his first run:
Kandahar World Cup, Chamonix. Image © PlanetSKI
Ryding has already been on the World Cup podium this season:
At the end of last month at the night slalom in Schladming he came just outside the top ten:
Dave Ryding. Image © PlanetSKI
The GB alpine team has some depth and they will be giving it their all.
In the first race with British interest on Tuesday 7th February, there have already been a couple of impressive results.
Owen Vinter finished 17th in the Men’s Alpine Combined in which skiers have to show their skills in both the speed and technical disciplines.
They race first in Super G and, later the same day, in slalom.
Ed Guigonnet also did well and finished 22nd.
Roy Steudle did not finish the Super G run of the Alpine Combined so could not tackle the slalom.
The Alpine Combined was won by the local favourite, Alexis Pinturault, who lives in Courchevel.
On Thursday 9th, three GB skiers took on the Men’s Super G.
The best result came from Calum Langmuir in 38th place. Owen Vinter was 41st.
Unfortunately Roy Steudle recorded another DNF but, on Sunday 12th in the Men’s Downhill, he completed his run to finish 39th.
He was the sole British competitor in the race.
The full list of the Brits in action at the Championships:
In the slalom, alongside Dave Ryding, competing in his eighth World Championships, will be Billy Major, Laurie Taylor and Ed Guigonnet.
Taylor will go into the race with some confidence after getting his career best World Cup result in the Chamonix slalom where he finished 23rd.
Reece Bell and Victoria Palla will compete in the women’s slalom and they could be joined by Charlie Guest and Alex Tilley if they can prove their fitness.
Palla and Tilley are also scheduled to compete in the giant slalom, along with Charlie Raposo and Calum Langmuir.
In the super G, Langmuir is joined by Roy Steudle and Owen Vinter, while Steudle is the lone entrant for the downhill race.
Raposo and Langmuir are in contention for the parallel discipline, with Guigonnet and Tilley to determine their participation closer to the event.
International Stars:
Mikaela Shiffrin and Marco Odermatt are the headline international stars of the 47th edition of the Championships.
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA):
The American is the only skier to have won gold medals at five consecutive World Championships and she’s now tied in second place in the all-time women’s medal list (11, including six golds) along with France’s Marielle Goitschel and Anja Parson of Sweden.
The 27-year-old, who stepped on the podium in four events last time out at Cortina 2021, has a chance to equal or overtake the record of Germany’s Christl Cranz, who won 15 medals between 1934 and 1939.
In her first race at these Championships, the Alpine Combined, she straddled a gate close to the end of the slalom run so failed to finish.
She won silver in the Super G.
Marco Odermatt (Switzerland)
The Swiss, who comfortably tops the overall World Cup standings, came away empty-handed from Cortina 2021 and was looking to win his first medal at the senior Worlds following six golds in the junior competition.
Odermatt finished just off the podium in 4th in the Super G, but pulled out all the stops with a brilliant run to win the Downhill.
He beat the favourite, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway, who had to settle for his second silver of the Championships, following his second place in the Super G.
2023 Alpine World Championships. Image © PlanetSKI
For the first time at the World Championships, competitions are shared by two separate venues.
The Roc de Fer piste in Meribel hosts the women’s events and the parallel slalom medal races (team and invidual).
The men compete on L’Eclipse track in Courchevel.
Meribel staged the women’s alpine competitions during Albertville 1992 and featured World Cup events in 2013, 2015 and 2022.
Courchevel’s L’Eclipse made its official debut at last year’s World Cup Finals and is known for its demanding runs (3.2km in length, 30% average gradient).
The resorts of Meribel and Courchevel are connected by a 10-km-long road.
Schedule 2023 Alpine Ski World Championships
Monday 6 February – Women’s Combined (11:00/14:30 in Meribel)
Tuesday 7 February – Men’s Combined (11:00/14:30 in Courchevel)
Wednesday 8 February – Women’s Super G (11:30 in Meribel)
Thursday 9 February – Men’s Super G (11:30 in Courchevel)
Saturday 11 February – Women’s Downhill (11:00 in Meribel)
Sunday 12 February – Men’s Downhill (11:00 in Courchevel)
Tuesday 14 February – Team Parallel (12:15 in Meribel)
Wednesday 15 February – Individual Parallel (1200 in Meribel)
Thursday 16 February – Women’s Giant Slalom (10:00/13:30 in Meribel)
Friday 17 February – Men’s Giant Slalom (10:00/13:30 in Courchevel)
Saturday 18 February – Women’s Slalom (10:00/13:30 in Meribel)
Sunday 19 February – Men’s Slalom (10:00/13:30 in Courchevel)
The BBC will be covering the event and here are the full coverage details:
BBC has live coverage of the key races on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app.
Monday, 6 February
10:00 – Women’s Alpine Combined
Tuesday, 7 February
10:00 – Men’s Alpine Combined
Wednesday, 8 February
10:15-12:10 – Women’s Super G – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Thursday, 9 February
10:15-11:15 – Men’s Super G – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Saturday, 11 February
09:45-11:15 – Women’s Downhill – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Sunday, 12 February
09:45-11:45 – Men’s Downhill – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
19:00-20:00 – Ski Sunday – BBC Two
Tuesday, 14 February
11:15 – Alpine Team Parallel
Wednesday, 15 February
11:00 – Men & Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom
Thursday, 16 February
08:45-10:45 – Women’s Giant Slalom, Run 1 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
12:15-13:45 – Women’s Giant Slalom, Run 2 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Friday, 17 February
08:45-10:45 – Men’s Giant Slalom, Run 1 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
12:15-13:45 – Men’s Giant Slalom, Run 2 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Saturday, 18 February
08:45-10:45 – Women’s Slalom, Run 1 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
12:15-13:35 – Women’s Slalom, Run 2 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Sunday, 19 February
08:45-10:35 – Men’s Slalom, Run 1 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
12:15-13:35 – Men’s Slalom, Run 2 – live on iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
18:15-19:00 – Ski Sunday – BBC Two
You can also check out the live results on the FIS website and read the latest alpine skiing’s stories on Olympics.com
The next Alpine World Championships will take place in Saalbach, Austria, in 2025.
Crans-Montana, Switzerland, will host the 2027 edition.
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