Roc de Fer

Roc de Fer
Place:	Méribel
Opened:	10 February 1990
Downhill
Start:	2,150 m (7,054 ft) (AA)
Finish:	1,465 m (4,806 ft)
Vertical drop:	685 m (2,247 ft)
Length:	2.413 km (1.50 mi)
Max. incline:	28.8 degrees (55%)
Min. incline:	5.1 degrees (9%)

Roc de Fer (French: "iron rock") is a downhill Alpine skiing course in Méribel, France, which is part of the large interlinked ski area known as Les Trois Vallées in the Savoie department of France, near Mont Blanc. The course was originally created for the 1992 Winter Olympics and has since played host to the World Cup season finals in 2015 and 2022 and the 2023 FIS World Ski Championships, the latter two in conjunction with the L’Éclipse course in the neighboring town of Courchevel.

History

Although Méribel has hosted an Alpine skiing slope with a chair lift since 1938, when the resort was developed and opened by a former Scottish military officer and avid skier named Peter Lindsay,^[1] and then expanded dramatically as a ski resort after World War II,^[2] it still needed a course upgrade when it was designated to host some of the skiing events for the 1992 Winter Olympics, which were centered in nearby Albertville.^[3]

According to the official record of the 1992 Games, the Roc de Fer course was developed after studying the sporting aspect and the environmental impact of the new course.^[4] For those Olympics, for which some of the course development was handled by former Olympic gold medalist Bernhard Russi, all five of the women's alpine events (downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined) were planned for (and took place at) Roc de Fer.^[4]

In advance preparation for the Olympics, on 10–11 February 1990, the new Roc de Fer course was opened with two World Cup Super-Gs, both won by Carol Merle.^[5][6][7] Less than a year later in 1991, Petra Kronberger won consecutive World Cup events in downhill and Super-G.^[8]

During the Olympics, some of the female skiers were displeased with being "isolated" in Méribel instead of being housed in a communal Olympic village, as had been the case in the prior Olympics in Calgary.^[9]

After the Olympics, outside of a slalom in 1994, the Roc de Fer course remained dormant on the World Cup circuit for twenty years.^[10] But then, a women's World Cup downhill and combined were held on the course on 23-24 February 2013, and the course once again returned to the World Cup circuit.^[10] More significantly, the course hosted the World Cup season finals in 2015 and later co-hosted both the season finals in 2022 (hosting all of the men's and women's technical events (giant slalom, slalom, and mixed team parallel)) and the 2023 FIS World Ski Championships (hosting all of the traditional women's events, similar to the 1992 Winter Olympics, as well as both men's and women's individual parallel giant slalom and the mixed team parallel event) in combination with the L’Éclipse course in Courchevel.^[10]

Also, during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Méribel held a celebration in honor of the 30th anniversary of the 1992 Olympic skiing at Roc de Fer and the hockey in the town.^[11]

Events

Winter Olympics

Year	Date	Event	Winner	Second place	Third place
↓ Women ↓
1992	12–13 February	KB	Petra Kronberger	Anita Wachter	Florence Masnada
	15 February	DH	Kerrin Lee-Gartner	Hilary Lindh	Veronika Wallinger
	18 February	SG	Deborah Compagnoni	Carole Merle	Katja Seizinger
	19 February	GS	Pernilla Wiberg	Anita Wachter   Diann Roffe
	20 February	SL	Petra Kronberger	Annelise Coberger	B. Fernández Ochoa

World Championships

Year	Date	Event	Winner	Second place	Third place
↓ Women ↓
2023	6 February	AC	Federica Brignone	Wendy Holdener	Ricarda Haaser
	8 February	SG	Marta Bassino	Mikaela Shiffrin	Cornelia Hütter   Kajsa Vickhoff Lie
	11 February	DH	Jasmine Flury	Nina Ortlieb	Corinne Suter
	15 February	PG	Maria Therese Tviberg	Wendy Holdener	Thea L. Stjernesund
	16 February	GS	Mikaela Shiffrin	Federica Brignone	Ragnhild Mowinckel
	18 February	SL	Laurence St-Germain	Mikaela Shiffrin	Lena Dürr
↓ Men ↓
2023	15 February	PG	Alexander Schmid	Dominik Raschner	Timon Haugan
↓ Alpine team event ↓
2023	14 February	PG (Team)	United States Tommy Ford Katie Hensien Paula Moltzan Nina O'Brien River Radamus Luke Winters	Norway Timon Haugan Kristin Lysdahl L. K. Nestvold-Haugen Alexander Steen Olsen Thea Louise Stjernesund Maria Therese Tviberg	Canada Valerie Grenier Jeffrey Read Erik Read Britt Richardson

World Cup

Season	Date	Event	Winner	Second place	Third place
↓ Women ↓
1989/90	10 February	SG	Carole Merle	Maria Walliser	Michaela Gerg
	11 February	SG	Carole Merle	Katja Seizinger	Maria Walliser
1990/91	19 January	DH	Petra Kronberger	Carole Merle	Veronika Wallinger
	20 January	SG	Petra Kronberger	Michaela Gerg	Carole Merle
1994/95	30 December	SL	Urška Hrovat	Vreni Schneider	Leila Piccard
2012/13	23 February	DH	Carolina Ruiz Castillo	Maria Höfl-Riesch	Marie Marchand-Arvier
	24 February	KB	Tina Maze	Nicole Hosp	Michaela Kirchgasser
2014/15	18 March	DH	Lindsey Vonn	Elisabeth Görgl	Nicole Hosp
	19 March	SG	Lindsey Vonn	Anna Fenninger	Tina Maze
	21 March	SL	Mikaela Shiffrin	Frida Hansdotter	Veronika Velez-Zuzulová
	22 March	GS	Anna Fenninger	Eva-Maria Brem	Tina Maze
2021/22	19 March	SL	Andreja Slokar	Lena Dürr	Petra Vlhová
	20 March	GS	Federica Brignone	Marta Bassino	Petra Vlhová
↓ Men ↓
2014/15	18 March	DH	Kjetil Jansrud	Didier Défago	Georg Streitberger
	19 March	SG	Dustin Cook	Kjetil Jansrud	Brice Roger
	21 March	GS	Henrik Kristoffersen	Fritz Dopfer	Thomas Fanara
	22 March	SL	Marcel Hirscher	Giuliano Razzoli	Alexander Khoroshilov
2021/22	19 March	GS	Marco Odermatt	Lucas Braathen	Loïc Meillard
	20 March	SL	Atle Lie McGrath	Henrik Kristoffersen	Manuel Feller
↓ Alpine team events ↓
2014/15	20 March	PG (Team)	Switzerland Charlotte Chable Michelle Gisin Wendy Holdener Gino Caviezel Justin Murisier Reto Schmidiger	Sweden Sara Hector Anna Swenn-Larsson Emelie Wikström Mattias Hargin Anton Lahdenperä André Myhrer	Austria Eva-Maria Brem Carmen Thalmann Christoph Nösig Philipp Schörghofer
2021/22	18 March	PG (Team)	Switzerland Delphine Darbellay Andrea Ellenberger Fadri Janutin Livio Simonet	Austria Stefan Brennsteiner Patrick Feurstein Fabio Gstrein* Ricarda Haaser Katharina Huber* Katharina Truppe	Germany Lena Dürr Fabian Gratz Antonia Kermer Julian Rauchfuß

Course sections

• Departs des Militaires – Bosse De Anglais – Tunnel – Beage's Wall – La Traverse – Pracua – Le Goulet – Le Stade

One source described the Roc de Fer downhill course as "having a steep start", permitting skiers to accelerate to over 100 km/hour in less than eight seconds, but then requiring more technical skills due to both turns and "many rolls and bumps".^[12]

References

1. "Meribel: The Mad Military Men Behind The Ski Resort". Forces.net. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
2. "The history of Meribel". Ski Basics. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
3. "Albertville 1992: 30 years of Olympic legacy in France's leading ski resorts". IOC. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
4. (PDF). Le Comité d'Organisation des Jeux Olympiques Albertville. LA84 Foundation. 1992. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
5. Associated Press (12 February 1990). "Winter Sports -- Healthy Merle Wins Again". Seattle Times. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
6. "Carole Merle tekmicam ni pustila blizu". Delo (in Slovenian). 12 February 1990. p. 9.
7. "Carole Merle wins super-G (Meribel 1990)". YouTube. 12 February 1990.
8. "Petra Velika se še ni naveličala zmag". Delo (in Slovenian). 21 January 1991. p. 9.
9. Associated Press (20 February 1992). "Olympic Notebook". AP News. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
10. Revuelta, Raúl (5 February 2023). "Roc de Fer. Courchevel-Méribel 2023 Racecourse". Ski Paradise. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
11. "Méribel celebrates the 30th anniversary of the 1992 Olympic Games". Meribel.net. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
12. Associated Press (11 February 2023). "Swiss skier Jasmine Flury wins downhill gold as favorites falter". ESPN.com. Retrieved 22 February 2023.

External links

• Roc de Fer (official)

45°23′48″N 6°33′59″E / 45.396731°N 6.566269°E / 45.396731; 6.566269