L’Éclipse is a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

downhill ski course in

Courchevel Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort located in the Tarentaise Valley. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Co ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, opened in 2022. It was designed by Bruno Tuaire and

Hannes Trinkl Hannes Trinkl (born 1 February 1968 in Steyr) is an Austrian former alpine skier. Trinkl was the bronze medallist in the downhill in the 1998 Winter Olympics, finishing 0.01 seconds ahead of fourth-placed Jürg Grünenfelder. His first ...

and built for the 2023 World Championships, and then has been hosting five men's

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

events. In March

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, it hosted the speed events of the

finals for men and women. The "

Roc de Fer Roc de Fer (French: ''"iron rock"'') is a World Cup 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 w ...

" ski course in nearby

Méribel Méribel () is a ski resort in the Tarentaise Valley in the French Alps. Méribel refers to three neighbouring villages in the Les Allues commune of the Savoie department of France, near the town of Moûtiers (), called Méribel Centre, Méribe ...

and L’Éclipse were co-hosting the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. This

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

course has a maximum incline of 31.4 degrees (61%

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...

) and one of the steepest average inclines in the world with 16.7 degrees (30%), even more than dowhnill in

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a town rights, medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbüh ...

(27%) or

Wengen Wengen () is a mountain village in the Bernese Oberland of central Switzerland. Located in the canton of Bern at an elevation of above sea level, it is part of the Jungfrauregion and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells t ...

(26%). The start begins near

Col de la Loze The Col de la Loze is a mountain pass in the French Alps, with an elevation of . A path up the mountain was opened in May 2019, and is the seventh-highest mountain pass in France. The ascent featured in the 2020 Tour de France, 2020 and 2023 To ...

, while the finish area is adjacent to

Tremplin du Praz The Tremplin du Praz is a ski jumping hill at Le Praz in Courchevel, France. The complex consists of four hills: a large hill with construction point of K125 (HS132), a normal hill at K90 (HS96), and two training hills at K60 and K25. The comple ...

, the

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

venue of the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

History

On 16 March 2022, this course originally intended for men only, was officially opened with both men's and women's downhill events, as the upper part of the "

" women's ski course in

wasn't fully rebuilt yet.

Events

World Championships

World Cup

Course sections

*Saut du Zenith – Mur du Son – Le S Des Arolles – Saut Des Jockeys – Le Trou Noir – Mur De La Bux – L'Envol – Le Mur Des Braves

References

External links

L’Éclipse
skiparadise.es
courchevelmeribel2023
{{Ski World Cup pistes Alpine skiing in France Skiing in France Alpine skiing competitions in France International sports competitions hosted by France Ski courses