The 2500 ton steel construction stands, equipped with two elevators, and boasting ca 5000 cubic meters of snow: the world's largest ramp in Moscow (RUS) is ready to stage the 2nd edition of the invitation city parallel slalom, entitled as the Audi FIS Alpine Ski Champions Cup, on Saturday 21st November 2009 at 8 pm local time (18 CET).

Günter Hujara, FIS Chief Race Director for the Alpine men, commented: "After the very successful glacier opening in Sölden (AUT) and the perfect slalom event north of the Polar Circle in Levi (FIN), it's a very spectacular challenge to organize an Alpine event on the biggest ski ramp ever seen in the middle of the Russian metropolis of Moscow. The format of a parallel event in this invitational competition gives us the chance to promote both the FIS World Cup and our athletes, the heroes, with equal attention to the sport and to providing an excellent show. It is also the first time that our best male racers will be joined by most of the world's best lady slalom skiers."

He added: "We will start water injecting the course at midnight today on Friday 20th November. The plan is to set a single pole course with ca 20, perhaps 22 gates. The racers will get their first glimpse of the ramp at 6pm local time tomorrow, before the great show starts at 8pm."

The world's best slalom racers will be participating, led by Jean-Baptiste Grange (FRA) and Maria Riesch (GER), the reigning FIS World Cup slalom champions, Riesch also being the 2009 slalom world champion, and the winner of the season opening World Cup slalom at Levi (FIN). Also part of the game, Riesch's male counterpart Manfred Pranger (AUT), the men's 2009 slalom champion at the World Ski Championships in Val d'Isère (FRA) and Reinfried Herbst (AUT) who won at Levi last weekend.

The organizers expect 25'000-30'000 spectators, as last year. Live TV coverage will be shown on Russian national TV and on ORF and RAI, as well as delayed on Eurosport and Eurosport Asia and highlights on the two German channels of ARD and ZDF.

Competition Format

In the men's competition there are 16 athletes at the start. In the first round, the best ranked athlete - according to the WCSL slalom list - will race against the 16th best ranked athlete present, i.e. eight pairs. Each pair will race two runs, once on each course (red - on the left - and blue - on the right - courses). The maximum time penalty for e.g. not finishing the first run has been set at 0.5 sec. In the second run, the time penalty is integrated (i.e. the time difference from the first run, up to a maximum of 0.5 sec, determines the delayed opening of the start gate) so the first racer crossing the finish line is the winner respectively will advance to the next heat.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals follow the same format. The winners of the two semi-finals will race in the Big Final for the victory in the Audi FIS Alpine Ski Champions Cup, and the losers in the Small Final for the places 3 and 4.

The first-time ladies' competition follows the same rules with the difference that there are eight racers at the start so the competition already starts with the quarter-finals.

As opposed to the first edition, where giant slalom gates were used, Saturday's race will be staged as a single pole parallel slalom.

New Location

This season's venue is located not far from the last event's venue (Moscow State University Square), at the Moscow City Palace of Children's and Youth Creativity. The new venue is known as the Moscow Grand Ramp Arena. This year's ramp is 66 meters high and 35 meters wide, with the total length of the slope of 210 meters. Comparing to the last year's ramp height of 56 meters and length of the slope of about 170 meters, the ramp again sets a world record.

The Moscow City Palace of Children's and Youth Creativity is a historical venue with long traditions heavily intertwined with the past of the Soviet era.

"The ramp is really impressive"

Julien Lizeroux (FRA): "It's great to be back. Even though I went out in the first round last year it is really fun for us to return to Moscow. I am not looking for revenge, just to enjoy this time in Moscow with our friends and family. Of course it gets serious when we get up there and are racing but this race is very special for us, including the visit to the Kremlin and the Red Square. This event is so different. And we seldom get to race in a city, maybe Zagreb comes close to this one but still it is no comparison. This event is also great promotion for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games in just four years' time.

I have seen the ramp and it is even bigger and longer this year than it was last year. They still have quite a bit to do to finish the preparations on the slope so let's see how it will be."

Sandrine Aubert (FRA): "I have been waiting for this opportunity to race here in Moscow since I saw the men competing here in January. It is great that the women are included here this time.

For me this event is like a game where we do not know the rules. I really like games like this. I cannot wait to get up there and see what comes next. I am excited to race here. We train for so many months a year so this is a really valuable opportunity to race. I need this feeling of adrenaline and excitement of racing. Maybe I will be tired when I get to Aspen but it will be well worth it."

Maria Riesch (GER): "The ramp is really impressive. I am looking forward to the race and also to the visit at the Kremlin. I am feeling very positive about being here."

Jean-Baptiste Grange (FRA): "I am very pleased to be back here. I was the runner-up last year so it will be great to compete here again. The new ramp is bigger and now has two rolls, as opposed to just one last year so it will be quite a challenge to race. You might be thrown back after the compression."

Reinfriend Herbst (AUT): "It is like racing in a tube. You have high red fences to the right and left of yourself. It is a 35 meters wide and it seems brutally steep. It is really a special feeling."

Marcel Hirscher (AUT): "I was never in Moscow before. It seems like a cool city. I know it is the future of the ski sports: big events in big cities."

fisalpine.com
Friday 20 November 20

Participants

Men
1. GRANGE, Jean-Baptise (FRA)
2. PRANGER, Manfred (AUT)
3. LIZEROUX, Julien (FRA)
4. HERBST, Reinfried (AUT)
5. HARGIN, Mattias (SWE)
6. HIRSCHER, Marcel (AUT)
7. MYHRER, Andre (SWE)
8. ROCCA, Giorgio (ITA)
9. JANYK, Michael (CAN)
10. THALER, Patrick (ITA)
11. RAZZOLI, Giuliano (ITA)
12. MISSILIER, Steve (FRA)
13. HOERL, Wolfgang (AUT)
14. VALENCIC, Mitja (SLO)
15. HOROSHILOV, Alexandr (RUS)
16. ZUEV, Stepan (RUS)

Ladies
1. RIESCH, Maria (GER)
2. AUBERT, Sandrine (FRA)
3. PIETILÄ-HOLMNER, Maria (SWE)
4. HANSDOTTER, Frida (SWE)
5. JELUSIC, Ana (CRO)
6. BÖRSSEN, Therese (SWE)
7. CHMELAR, Fanny (GER)
8. RAYANOVA, Lyaysan (RUS)

Prize Money
All invited athletes (men and ladies) will receive a participation fee in the amount of USD 10'000. Prize winners will receive the net prize money.

Men:
1st place - USD 30'000
2nd place - USD 20'000
3rd place - USD 10'000

Ladies:
1st place - USD 30'000
2nd place - USD 10'000
3rd place - USD 5'000

The total prize money fund amounts to 315'000 USD.

Results of the 1st edition of the FIS Alpine World Cup Promotional Event in Moscow (RUS) on 2nd January 2009

1. NEUREUTHER, Felix (GER)
2. GRANGE, Jean-Baptiste (FRA)
3. MILLER, Bode (USA)
4. LIGETY, Ted (USA)
5. BYGGMARK, Jens (SWE)
5. MOELGG, Manfred (ITA)
5. MATT, Mario (AUT)
5. HERBST, Reinfried (AUT)
9. LIZEROUX, Julien (FRA)
9. HOROSHILOV, Alexandr (RUS)
9. DEVILLE, Cristian (ITA)
9. CUCHE, Didier (SUI)
9. ROCCA, Giorgio (ITA)
9. SVINDAL, Aksel Lund (NOR)
9. VAJDIC, Bernard (SLO)
9. ZUEV, Stepan (RUS)

For more information:
Event website at www.champcupfis.com/
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup website at http://www.fisalpine.com