The dream of World Cup ski racing beneath the Matterhorn is back on track. On Tuesday, June 9, residents of Zermatt, Switzerland, overwhelmingly approved plans to construct a new Alpine Ski World Cup downhill course on the famous Gornergrat, clearing one of the final major hurdles for the return of top-level speed racing to one of the most iconic backdrops in the sport.
The proposal passed with 159 votes in favor, four against, and two abstentions, giving it 96% support after the project’s final opposition was withdrawn earlier this year. The vote comes two years after the collapse of the highly publicized Matterhorn Cervino Speed Opening project.
FIS had signed a five-year agreement with Zermatt Bergbahnen to host four World Cup races each season, but the planned first-ever cross-border downhill between Switzerland and Italy never materialized. The Gran Becca course, which crossed the border from Zermatt into Cervinia, was scheduled to host World Cup downhills in November 2022 and again in November 2023. Both editions were canceled due to adverse weather and snow conditions. After shelving plans for a third attempt in 2024, FIS effectively ended the project, leaving Zermatt without the World Cup races that had been promised beneath the Matterhorn.
The fallout briefly strained relations between Zermatt Bergbahnen and Swiss-Ski. Following the cancellation of the races, the resort operator moved to suspend elite summer training on the Theodul Glacier. The dispute was resolved in February 2025 when Swiss-Ski and Zermatt Bergbahnen signed a new 10-year agreement that secured long-term glacier training access through 2034.
Under the agreement, Swiss-Ski assumed responsibility for organizing summer training while Zermatt Bergbahnen continues to maintain and groom the slopes. The arrangement guarantees access not only for Swiss national teams but also for other World Cup nations and was hailed by Swiss-Ski as a major step toward reducing expensive and carbon-intensive training trips to the Southern Hemisphere. “The new agreement between Swiss-Ski and Zermatt is groundbreaking,” Swiss-Ski co-CEO Walter Reusser said when the deal was announced. “Zermatt is the highest glacier ski area with the best conditions for speed training in Europe.” As part of that agreement, assurances were also made that Zermatt would pursue World Cup races on a newly constructed Gornergrat downhill course.
That vision moved significantly closer to reality on Tuesday. The new course will be built in the Gornergrat ski area above Zermatt. According to plans presented to residents, the downhill will start at approximately 2,850 meters (9,350 feet) and descend nearly 1,000 vertical meters to the finish. The upper two-thirds of the track will be newly constructed, while the lower section will follow part of the historic Gornergrat race course that was a fixture on the international calendar until 1967.
Construction of the ski run will proceed regardless of whether FIS ultimately awards World Cup races to the venue, as the course is also intended to serve recreational skiers. To build it, sections of the existing ski area will be reconfigured and approximately 8,300 square meters (89,000 square feet) of forest will be cleared. Negotiations with more than 30 landowners were required before the project could be brought to a public vote.
The Gornergrat project forms part of a broader redevelopment plan for the area. Zermatt is also studying a new gondola connecting Gornergrat at 3,089 meters (10,135 feet) with Stockhorn at 3,532 meters (11,588 feet), replacing a lift that ceased operation in 2007, although no construction timeline has been announced.
Before World Cup racing can return, the new downhill must still receive FIS homologation and organizers must demonstrate they can satisfy all operational requirements for a World Cup event. If those approvals are secured, the first men’s World Cup downhill is scheduled to take place on the Gornergrat in March 2028.
A return to World Cup racing at the iconic Matterhorn after a 60-year absence will certainly attract many ski racing fans to the legendary ski resort.
