France will host the Winter Olympics in 2030. Despite its know-how and experience in organizing competitions, Val Thorens is not on the map of sites. In mid-December, the Savoyard resort welcomed the skicross World Cup for the twelfth consecutive year, further proof of the quality of the site. "We are recognized by the FIS as one of the four or five largest French resorts in terms of organizing events, recalls Thibault Combre, director of the Val Thorens Sports Club, sait at Dauphiné. We have the altitude, the panorama,the status of the best station in the world, the aura abroad and the know-how of major events." Wednesday, Freeride World Tour was stopping there, on the face of the Lac Noir, whose summit peaks at 2.500 meters. The discipline is on the rise: freeride will have its place first World Championships in 2026, in Andorra. Perhaps an opportunity for Val Thorens while the program for the 2030 Olympic Games in the French Alps has not yet been set. “We are following the case. If this comes to fruition, we will be candidates, even if I imagine that we won't be the only ones", comments Thibault Combre, who hoped "hit hard" on the occasion of this stage of the Freeride World Tour so that the Belleville valley can "Hitching up the Olympic wagon".
