After the media double pass with ÖFB President Gerhard Milletich, yesterday’s annual conference of the Austrian sports journalists’ association Sports Media Austria saw the “changeover” to alpine skiing. At the presentation of the Ski World Championships 2025, which will be held in Saalbach-Hinterglemm from February 2nd to 16th, ÖSV President Roswitha Stadlober defined an expectation that has little to do with medals. The ski spectacle is supposed to be a “green event” and the ski association has set itself the goal of achieving climate neutrality in the medium term.
“We try very hard to keep CO2 emissions as low as possible. The World Cup should be future-proof and sustainable, that’s very important to me,” said Stadlober yesterday in Salzburg. The organizers also want to give the World Cup, which is taking place in the Glemmtal for the second time since 1991, a green coat of paint. “We don’t want to have infrastructure corpses lying around somewhere. We deal with things that have added value,” said Saalbach’s Mayor Alois Hasenauer. Major infrastructure measures would not be necessary, the races are held on the already well developed Zwölferkogel and end in Hinterglemm’s finish stadium, which is said to have a capacity of around 15,000 spectators.
The Glemmtal is already fit for the World Cup when it comes to the hotel industry. 85,000 beds are available within a radius of 30 kilometers. The spectators should be transported to Hinterglemm by shuttle bus or come by ski from the neighboring communities, which are connected by lifts. With a lift ticket, skiers can even experience the races along the route at no additional cost, tickets are only sold for the finish stadium. Before the World Cup, the men’s World Cup circus will be in Saalbach at the end of January 2023, followed in March 2024 by the World Cup final as a World Cup dress rehearsal.
Source: Nachrichten
