Clear announcement from Matterhorn boss Franz Julen: Ultimatum for the Zermatt races!

Marcel W. PerrenSki reporter

As the initiator of the Matterhorn descent, Franz Julen (65) from Zermatt has had to endure attacks from Austria in recent weeks. “Recent years have shown that the innovative and ambitious concept of this two-country descent is difficult to implement,” said ÖSV Secretary General Christian Scherer on the occasion of the Hahnenkamm races at ORF.

Downhill head coach Sepp Brunner added in an interview with Blick: “With the exception of the Swiss, I don’t know any athlete who wants to return to Zermatt for World Cup competitions after the negative experiences of recent years.”

How does Julen deal with such attacks? “In the past, something like this would have deeply affected me personally. But the great Didier Cuche taught me in a long conversation how to relax and deal with criticism properly. Since then, such statements no longer rob me of sleep.”

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“That’s why the Austrians are mainly shooting at us!”

Yet the older brother of Olympic giant slalom champion Max Julen (62) is launching a counterattack against the Ösis. “I think the fact that our project has received a lot of criticism from Austria from day one has two specific reasons.” Julen first expresses a purely sporting distrust: “While the Austrian men are stagnating in the speed disciplines, the Swiss have very strong young athletes such as Franjo von Allmen or Alexis Monney behind Marco Odermatt.

This positive development can also be attributed to the fact that Franz Heinzer’s European Cup team has had excellent conditions on the Matterhorn Glacier in the summer for years. Of course, the Austrians don’t like that because they don’t have these conditions. But the Austrians are also shooting at us for tourist reasons!” The marketing professional from Upper Valais explains his suspicions as follows: “As organizers of the World Cup opening in Sölden, the Austrians know exactly how valuable the Alpine World Cup races are at the moment from a tourism perspective. And that is why it bothers our neighbors to the east that we are not getting just two races from the FIS, but four competitions in the most important discipline.”

High advertising value despite eight rejections

Although all races in Zermatt-Cervinia had to be canceled over the past two years, Julen comes up with impressive figures: “The internationally active, renowned company Pressrelations has calculated that the 2023 coverage of our event alone will generate an equivalent advertising value of 104 million euros . and a reach of 3.9 billion francs was achieved.”

That is why OK President Julen, together with his team and the representatives of Zermatt-Cervinia, wants to plan four sailings on the “Gran Becca” next November. The former manager of Pirmin Zurbriggen and Vreni Schneider gave himself and his team an ultimatum: “If racing on the Gran Becca does not succeed on the third attempt, we would continue our project despite a five-year contract with the FIS, the Swiss Ski and the Italian federation because the credibility of Zermatt and Cervinia would suffer too much from further cancellations. But we want to try again.”

But first the question must be clarified whether the Matterhorn races will continue to be supported by the FIS and the Italian Federation? Julen shows calmness: “I have come to know the decision makers in these associations as men of honor. And that is why I am convinced that these gentlemen will adhere to the contractual agreements.”