Val d’Isère set for races

11th December 2009, by Chris Gill

View from Solaise, 0930 Friday

Friday dawned crisp and clear in Val d’Isère, giving a perfect start to the 54th Critérium de la Première Neige – the event that signals the arrival of the World Cup circus in the Alps, after its opening events in North America.

The resort is using the “face à face” setup it invented for the World Championships last winter, with race courses on both Solaise and Bellevarde finishing close to the resort centre. The event is spread over two weekends – men’s super combined, super G and slalom on 11, 12 and 13 December, and women’s super combined, downhill and super G on 18, 19 and 20 December. Over the first weekend, the women are in Sweden for slaloms, while over the second weekend the men are in Val Gardena and nearby Alta Badia for a pretty full set of races.

And, of course, this weekend brings the return of Ski Sunday to BBC Two, plus other programmes accessible via the Red Button and website. Here’s the BBC schedule:

Saturday 12 December
World Cup Skiing – Live (men’s super-G)
0930 BBC Red Button/Online
Sunday 13 December
World Cup Skiing – Live (men’s giant slalom – second run)
1215 BBC Red Button/Online
Ski Sunday (featuring highlights of men’s super-G)
1730-1800 BBC Two
World Cup Skiing – Highlights (men’s giant slalom)
1800-1830 BBC Red Button/Online

• racing
• world cup
• val disere
• première neige
• premiere neige

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