In 1960 Tschucky Kerschbaumer, a keen and active sportsman was elected president of the Ski Club Gardena. His immediate aim was to organize high class international competitions such as the Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm and the Wengen Lauberhorn races. Young people from the valley were sent to these places in order to study how to efficiently and professionally run such events. Meanwhile, Edmund Dellago, Ski Club secretary, placed the candidacy of Val Gardena to organize two international events with the Italian Ski Federation, a downhill race on the Ciampinoi 3 and a slalom on the Ronce slope of Ortisei.

For the following year no men’s race were allotted to the Gardena Valley due to the rotation system BY FISI so a ladies’ FIS A race was organized on the Ciampinoi 4 and a slalom at S.Cristina.

No FIS A races for that winter, but the Valley’s enthousiasm is increasing and two FIS B races are held, one at Selva with Felix Denicolò as a winner and the other one on the Seceda mountain won by Carlo Senoner. A new local racers’ generation is surfacing: Gerhard Mussner, Ivo Mahlknecht, Giustina Demetz, and others, and a new idea by Erich Demetz is born â€" the organization of a World Ski Campionship in Val Gardena. in 1963, Erich Demetz is becoming president of the Ski Club Gardena. As he remembers, at the general assembly in October 22, 20 out of 22 people present had less then 20 years. These boys made their dream come true.

In 1965 the last FIS A race is being held, as in 1966 the Fis World Cup is being invented by Serge Lang. A very important event. Not only for the Gardena valley, but in general, as for the first time an Italian ski event is being televised by Eurovision. There is so much enthousiasm that the idea of a World Ski Championship is taking more and more shape. But Fabio Conci, president of the Italian Ski Federation, is skeptical about logistics, finances, and the naivité of these youngsters from the valley. These, however, are insisting and already during the FIS Congress of Mamaia in 1965 Tschucky Kerschbaumer and Erich Demetz are distributing candidature pamphlets during parties organized by world renown candidates like Kitzbühel, Davos, and Jackson Hole.

No race is being organized in 1966 and in the following year a delegation from the valley is bidding for the championships at the Beyrouth FIS Congress. The organization is perfect and "congress participants are surprised by the perfect candidature organization run by Demetz, Kerschbaumer, Sanoner, Dellago" (Sciare, June 1967). Nothing is left to chance and after the second votation the FIS president Marc Hodler announces Val Gardena as winner with 39 votes..

In 1968, pre-championships are being held and in 1969 the first men’s and women’s downhill races are run on the newly built Saslong and Cir slopes. And there is a first rough time for the new Saslong slope: Karl Schranz refuses to start, pretending that the slope is "too easy". Infact, prior to the construction of this new slope, downhill racing was extremely difficulty and risky. Gates were being placed as few as possible and the racer put his life at risk on a slope which almost wasn’t marked. Typically, the winner was whoever found the shortest and most direct line. Gerhard Mussner, one of the local racers, remembers that once he had put a piece of wood in the snow so he would remember where to curve. Then he removed it so that his adversaries couldn’t "steal his personal line". The design of the Saslong slope was the result of a new philosophy of the FIS: No more horror-downhills, no more holes and mogus, no more dangerous rocks and extreme jumps (where Karl Schranz was undoubtly the best), but more safety in order that the race be won thanks to technique and not to the extreme risk. As a matter of fact, in the same Summer, the most extreme points of the "Lauberhorn", the "Hahnenkamm", and the "Tofane" would be shaven due to FIS instructions. The difference of the new Saslong slope towards the other "old" slopes is evidenced by its average speed of 111,600 km/h compared to 90,720 km/h for Kitzbühel, 84,240 km/h for Wengen, and 90,360 km/h for Cortina.