World’s Biggest Cross Country Ski Race Comes to Wirth Park
For the first time in more than two decades, the biggest event in cross country skiing is coming to the United States. And it’s happening later this week in Golden Valley.
More than 30,000 spectators and nearly 200 skiers from all over the world will descend upon Theodore Wirth Park this weekend for the 2024 COOP FIS Cross-Country World Cup.
“This is the Super Bowl of skiing,” said Claire Wilson, executive director of the Loppet Foundation, which runs all of the recreation activities at Theodore Wirth Park.
Every sport has its championship event, and for the world’s most elite cross-country skiers, the trails at Theodore Wirth Park will soon become hallowed ground.
“It is so thrilling to welcome the world to Wirth,” said Wilson. “You know it’s Jessie Diggins, who is our hometown hero, and the entire U.S. Ski Team [has] expressed their enthusiasm and excitement for finally getting to ski in front of their hometown crowd.”
Crews were busy Tuesday morning preparing the course for the weekend’s events, which includes a sprint on Saturday, a 10K on Sunday and tens of thousands of spectators cheering them on.
“There is not a bad seat in the house,” Wilson said. “This course is excellent for spectating.”
A do-over
This venue was supposed to be the site of the World Cup in March of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit the week of the event and forced the organizers to cancel it.
“After the heartbreak of that cancellation, we put in another bid,” Wilson said. “This time for February, because we thought for sure February would be a safe bet in Minnesota.”
Instead, Mother Nature decided to make this one of the warmest and least snowiest winters on record. As a result, every speck of snow on the Theodore Wirth Park course is man-made.
None of the snow on the Theodore Wirth Park course is natural. Crews will work ’round the clock to maintain the ski trails for the World Cup events.
“Our crew just pulled off a miracle. They were incredible,” said Wilson. “They worked around the clock when it was cold. They’re working around the clock now to preserve what we have, so we are really proud of our efforts to be able to have a ski trail.”
It’s a ski trail that will soon host 180 athletes from 21 countries, all trying to win their own version of the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, if you were hoping to make it out to this event, the tickets are already sold out. For a spectator guide, along with information on local watch parties, you can find all of that at the Loppet Cup website.
