Cortina made it. The FIS Council, gathered in Cancun (Mexico), voted in favour of entrusting the 2021 Alpine Ski World Championships to Italy. The assignment of the World Championships to Cortina d’Ampezzo was announced by the President of the International Ski Federation (FIS), Gianfranco Kasper.

After five candidatures, FIS assessed favourably the project devised by Cortina 2021 Foundation and by the Italian Winter Sport Federation (FISI), and officially handed over the organisation of the world event taking place in 2021 to FISI and to Cortina, with a unanimous vote (17 out 17, by show of hand).

The Cortina World Championships will follow the ones held in St. Moritz in 2017 and in Are (Sweden) in 2019, and will occur exactly one year before the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

All members of the delegation attending the Mexican congress expressed great satisfaction: Flavio Roda, FISI President, was amongst the voters as a member of the FIS Council, and was also, as customary, the first signatory of the hosting contract, the contract for the World Championships that FIS issues to the winning party. “It is a moment of great joy and a reward for all the work we have done in the past years and months. I thank the Italian Government wholeheartedly, starting from the Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, and the State Secretary for the Prime Minister's Office, Luca Lotti, who always supported us during the preparations for this congress, and I also thank CONI and its President, Giovanni Malagò. I wish to compliment the Cortina 2021 Foundation and its President, Riccardo Donadon, for the professionalism and dedication with which they have tackled the last months of the candidature. The support of the Veneto regional administration and of President Luca Zaia has also been crucial, as was the collaboration with the Municipality of Cortina d’Ampezzo and with the Province of Belluno”.

“Nevertheless, this is a victory for all sport associations and businesses in Cortina”, continued Roda, “which now have an important chance to launch Cortina towards the future. It is also a victory for Italian sport and beyond - we will have a great international event on the Italian mountains and it must be taken as a chance for a general revival of our country”.

“Cortina has achieved an extraordinary goal”, said CONI President Giovanni Malagò, “built with tenacity, capability and passion. The World Ski Championships represent a spotlight of rare efficacy to promote the outstanding qualities of our country and to certify the credibility and the prominent role held by Italian sport at an international level. This appointment rewards the excellent teamwork conducted by CONI, FISI, the Government and the Municipality, thanks to a productive synergy that represents the winning model to follow in order to fulfil another fantastic dream, namely Rome 2024. Cortina, the first Italian Olympic city in history, could be, once more, the theatre of a great event destined to act as a prelude to a new Olympic emotion, as when it passed the baton to the Capital for the 1960 Summer Games after having hosted the 1956 Winter ones”.

Riccardo Donadon was also extremely happy after having led the dream that Cortina had been cultivating for many years to a successful outcome. “Our vision has won”, said Donadon, “a real project that has sport and athletes at its core, but is also very engaged with young people and the local area. We have fruitfully collaborated with the Italian Federation and with FIS, managing to satisfy all the requests we received to produce a great World Championship. The 2021 edition will have to be a technological and sustainable World Championship, which should be used as a driving force for the Italian mountains, and to relaunch the Made in Italy tradition. It is a success that we share with the people of Cortina and with the entire Veneto region, and that leads us now to work with greater effort to manifest the dream we strongly desired would become reality”.