Tomorrow, the 36th FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships will open in Åre, Sweden. Over 300 of the best junior alpine ski racers in the world, from over 45 nations, will gather for competitions in all alpine events.

The “World Juniors” are a preview of the next generation of ski champions. The age range covers ages 16 to 21 (birth years 2000 to 1996).

Aare is a unique host for this event. The World Juniors are a trial run for the 2018 World Cup Finals and the 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. For the junior athletes, this is an incredible opportunity to get experience on a World Championship venue, as many who compete over the next 10 days may well be part of the senior event in two years.

The World Juniors include the same events as the World Championships and Olympic Winter Games. So in addition to the five core events of slalom, giant slalom, super G, downhill and the alpine combined, the teams will go head-to-head in the Nations Team Event.

The Marc Hodler Cup is unique to World Junior competition. This is the overall team competition, measured through compilation of top 10 results in each event through a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 format – which is significantly different to the World Cup Nations Cup (measured by World Cup points).  In 2016, the title was decided on the final day in the last event as Austria narrowly topped the list. Standings from 2016 are here: https://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/marc-hodler-trophy.html?seasoncode=2016&sectorcode=AL

A listing of previous winners can be found here: https://data.fis-ski.com/global-links/statistics/top-winners.html?catcode=WJC&sectorcode=AL

An overview of previous organizers can be found here: https://data.fis-ski.com/global-links/statistics/event-overview.html?catcode=WJC&sectorcode=AL&search=Search

Throughout the Championship, I will try to post anecdotes, photos and stories on this blog. If you would like to follow the action, here are the key sites to get updates, photos and news reports:

Twitter: @JWSC2017

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jwsc2017/

Instagram: jwsc2017

Live timing on the FIS web site

Home page: are2017.com/