The board of Narvik VM 2029 AS said on 19 October 2026 that it would not host the women’s Alpine World Cup races planned for Narvik in March 2027. NRK reported the decision. FIS confirmed it the same day: downhill and super-G, provisionally 10-13 March, on a calendar where the stop was still “to be confirmed”. This is not a cancellation of the 2029 World Championships.

The reason is risk, not a sporting verdict. After the FIS inspection on 8-9 October, race director Peter Gerdol had said that at Narvikfjellet “nothing is ready”. The board put that beside a technical review of the site. The slope, snowmaking, lifts and safety work were still unfinished. Technically the venue could still be finished, tested and approved by March, but only at a risk the organisers now call too high.

Board chair Eirik Frantzen called the choice unwanted but necessary. CEO Knut-Eirik Dybdal, quoted by FIS, said the withdrawal does not change the 2029 aim; it leaves resources on the championship venue. In the 2024 bid plans the hill was meant to be ready for the 2028 World Cup finals. The 2027 stop was an ambition, not a locked contract.

The Norwegian Ski Federation said it respects the decision and must, formally, look for another site. FIS wrote the same: a substitute will be announced shortly. A coming announcement is not a town already chosen. Garmisch-Partenkirchen appears on the 2026/27 calendar as a speed replacement; that does not, by itself, make it the confirmed host of Narvik’s races.

NRK alpine expert Lars Elton Myhre said that if the venue is not ready for a World Cup, time to the 2029 Worlds is short and that only a fragile window remains next season. That is an opinion. Gerdol answered that he is not worried about the championship in two and a half years: the terrain is hard, but he has seen progress. A commentator’s worry does not cancel 2029.

For March 2027, snowmaking would have had to start in December. Organisers held a digital briefing and repeated that the main goal remains the 2029 championships. The March 2027 World Cup in Narvik will not be held there. Where the races move, FIS and the Norwegians have not yet said.

Image: Nemo bis, Narvikfjellet, August 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the mountain, not a World Cup race.

Sources consulted: VM-arrangoren i Narvik sier fra seg prestisjerenn: For stor usikkerhet - NRK Nordland; Narvik withdraws from hosting 2026/27 FIS World Cup races - FIS.