Slalom World Cup history

                               ...continues from previous post

 Bill Endicott suggested I heard from Richard Fox. He is returning to Australia for a few weeks before the Games to return to Europe to follow his daughters to Paris 2024 and the whole movement. Richard added some clarifications to Bill's already very detailed story of how the World Cup came to be. Here is his comment:

It’s hard to add to Bill’s memory, I think he has covered the beginning of the World Cup journey really well. 

The impetus for introducing a structured race circuit was to coordinate more high quality racing opportunities for athletes.

Until that time we had a World Championship every two years and a two race Europa Cup series in between. 

Once the series became regulated by the ICF the number of races was reduced from 7 to 5 then down to 3 for a while. We seem to have settled at 5 as a compromise. 

Overall, the World Cup concept has succeeded in its original mission of bringing the top athletes together on the start line more often and promoting the sport more widely through broadcast and media. Although, this is becoming hard to sustain. 

The series was introduced as slalom was brought back into the Olympic program for Barcelona 1992, which was quite timely. 

Over the years, the quality and consistency of competitions has improved (so has the cost). The World Cup has lost some of its global appeal and become more Euro centric.

Looking ahead, formats should be simplified and organisation costs reduced. The efforts of the athletes should be rewarded. The circuit should be diversified strategically over the next ten years and made more relevant to broader participation in paddle sports. 

See you in Paris Richard Fox