FIS Alpine Junior World Championships Return to USA After 33 Years

The world’s best junior alpine ski racers will head to the United States in 2027 for the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships. From March 2-12, 2027, Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, New York, will host the first FIS Junior World Championship in 33 years. Coincidentally, the last Junior Worlds in the U.S. were also held at Whiteface in 1994, bringing the premier international competition for the sport’s next generation back to one of North America’s most storied ski racing venues. The championships will bring athletes, teams, coaches and spectators from around the world to the Adirondacks, with Lake Placid’s Olympic legacy providing the backdrop.

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For the young racers competing, Junior Worlds are far more than another stop on the calendar. The winners of each individual event will earn a start at the Audi FIS World Cup Finals, scheduled for later that month at Sun Valley, Idaho. The six events contested at Whiteface will be:

• Downhill
• Super-G
• Giant Slalom
• Slalom
• Team Combined
• Mixed Team Parallel

The event is being organized by U.S. Ski & Snowboard in coordination with the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and is supported by Stifel, title partner of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team.

Whiteface has a racing pedigree few American ski areas can match. The mountain hosted the alpine skiing competitions during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, where the United States earned its lone alpine skiing medal of the Games. Phil Mahre won silver in the men’s slalom behind Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark. Stenmark also won the men’s giant slalom, while Liechtenstein’s Hanni Wenzel completed the women’s technical-event sweep with gold in both slalom and giant slalom. Austria’s Leonhard Stock won the men’s downhill, while Annemarie Moser-Pröll took the women’s title.

More than four decades later, Whiteface remains an important competition venue. The mountain has been a regular host of the Nor-Am Cup, the premier continental-level racing circuit in North America, while Lake Placid continues to attract major international winter sporting events. The region also hosted the Cross-Country World Cup Finals at nearby Mt. Van Hoevenberg in March 2026, where U.S. star Jessie Diggins concluded her World Cup career. Whiteface also hosted the 2025 IBSF World Championships in bobsleigh and skeleton, further cementing the Olympic Region’s reputation as a year-round international competition venue.

The return of Alpine Junior Worlds to Whiteface carries particular significance for Chip Knight, now U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Alpine Development Director. Knight competed at the 1994 Junior World Championships at Whiteface and won silver in the slalom—the best result by an American skier at those championships. Now, 33 years later, he will help oversee the next generation of American racers competing on the same mountain. “33 years ago, I stood on a Junior World Championships podium in Lake Placid and I’ve never forgotten what that home crowd felt like,” said Knight. “Bringing this event back to Whiteface gives our next generation of racers that same chance to compete for a world title in front of family, friends and a community that’s been part of this sport’s history for decades.”

For the 2027 generation, the opportunity will be particularly significant for American athletes racing on home snow with a World Cup Finals berth potentially on the line. One of the most intriguing aspects of Junior Worlds is what happens after the medals are awarded. The winner of each individual event earns a start at the FIS World Cup Finals later in March. For a junior racer, that can mean going directly from competing against the world’s best U21 athletes to lining up alongside established World Cup stars. The 2027 World Cup Finals will take place at Sun Valley, Idaho, giving successful American juniors an opportunity to race at the highest level in front of a home crowd just weeks after Junior Worlds.

American Logan Grosdidier knows that pathway well. The 17-year-old won silver in Super-G at the 2026 Junior World Championships in Narvik, Norway, and had already raced at Whiteface during the Nor-Am Cup before that performance. “I’m really excited to race World Juniors in the U.S. this year, especially in a place like Lake Placid,” said Grosdidier. “It’s going to be really special getting to compete in my home country and share the experience with friends and family.”

FIS last brought the Alpine Junior World Championships to North America in 2022, when Panorama, British Columbia, hosted the event. But the United States has been absent from the championship rotation since Whiteface’s 1994 edition.

The successful 2027 bid came together rapidly. The organizing team made initial contact with FIS during the Spring Meetings in Portorož, Slovenia, in May. The bid was awarded two months later, followed by a July site inspection that included slope homologation and an assessment of the mountain’s facilities.

For FIS, Lake Placid’s combination of Olympic history, existing competition infrastructure and experience hosting international events made it a natural choice. “The return of the FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships to Lake Placid in 2027 is a special moment,” said Sandra Spitz, FIS Sport & Event Director. “Thirty-three years after last hosting the event, Lake Placid remains a cornerstone of winter sport in North America, with extensive experience delivering FIS competitions across several disciplines, including the Alpine North American Cup circuit.” Spitz also emphasized the importance of Junior Worlds in developing future World Cup and Olympic athletes. “The Junior World Championships are one of the most important milestones in the athlete pathway, helping to develop the next generation of champions while contributing to the long-term growth of the sport.”

For Lake Placid, the 2027 Junior Worlds represent another chapter in a sporting history that stretches back more than a century. The community hosted the Winter Olympics in both 1932 and 1980, making it one of only three North American communities to have hosted the Winter Games twice. Now Whiteface will welcome a new generation of racers hoping to establish their own place in international skiing.