Three years ago, the first wave of COVID-19 forced the Loppet Foundation to cancel a long-awaited World Cup ski race at Theodore Wirth Park. It was a crushing disappointment, but it wasn't the end of the trail.
The foundation went back to work in the hopes of getting another shot to bring the world's best cross-country ski racers to Minneapolis. Wednesday, it confirmed a World Cup event will be held next year at Wirth Park. The Loppet Cup will include two days of racing Feb. 17 and 18, followed by a free community ski day Feb. 19.
The Loppet Foundation will co-host the event with Share Winter, a national organization that supports winter sports participation. The races will be free and open to the public.
The event will mark the return of World Cup cross-country ski racing to the United States after a 23-year absence. Claire Wilson, executive director of the Loppet Foundation, said it will include both sprint and distance races for men and women.
"The Loppet Foundation's DNA is in cross-country skiing, and this is the biggest event in cross-country skiing,'' Wilson said. "And I can't keep saying we have world-class trails unless we host world-class events.
"To my mind, this is in alignment with our mission. We're going to connect a bunch of people to the outdoors. We're going to create an experience that grows community. And we're going to put our work on the world stage and hope others see it as a model for how to advance equity in the outdoor space.''
Three-time Olympian Jessie Diggins of Afton is among those who have lobbied for years to bring the World Cup back to America, and to her home state. With most World Cup races held in Europe, she usually leaves the U.S. in November and doesn't return until spring.
Next year, she will get to race consecutive weekends in North America. Before the World Cup tour comes to Wirth Park, it will hold two sprint races and two distance races Feb. 9-13 in Alberta, Canada.
"I've been waiting for this my whole life,'' Diggins said via Zoom from Europe, where she will race in next week's world championships. "It means everything, honestly. A huge shoutout to the Loppet Foundation and Share Winter for making this possible.''
Wilson said the 2024 event will build on the preparation done for the canceled men's and women's freestyle sprint races in 2020. About 20,000 spectators were expected to attend that event, which had an estimated budget of $2.5 million. It was called off only four days before the races were set to begin, as COVID was spreading around the world.
