Speaking live from the Milan hub of this year’s second, hybrid GSW event, the man who was chairman of the Benetton Group during which Michael Schumacher won two Formula One world titles for the brand explained that the biggest challenge in getting the Championships to take place in Cortina d’Ampezzo has been getting all the stakeholders together.

"Believe it or not, the biggest complexity in trying to make sure all the stakeholders were heading in the same directions," he said.

"Putting together a local political agenda with a national political agenda, together with public and private effort, was not so simple. 

"Basically Cortina had been trying, when I came in as the chairman of this Committee, to get the event three or four times, five times, maybe. 

"And it was just on the last one that we were granted this event."  

Benetton referenced the "negativity and pessimism" that had been around the efforts to host such an event in Cortina, which will jointly host the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games with Milan.

He admitted there were concerns including "big financial losses once the event is concluded…some legal questions sometimes, whether things have happened in a transparent manner, sustainability questions as well.

"So I think putting all these question marks together and trying to give a global response has led to a positive result for everybody - the local community, the younger generations, the sustainability, the economical life of these places.

"Putting this together and finding a common objective was the hardest part. 

"But the magic is that this negative effect of a pandemic situation in reality has provoked a reaction in all the stakeholders. 

"They have joined forces more than ever and today they are absolutely coherent in a unique direction, which is a major event, to make sure it is productive for the environment and the local community.

"And this is a good stepping stone for the next phase, which is the Olympic Games."

Benetton revealed the Organising Committee for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, which is due to take place between February 8 and 21, had adopted a "360 degrees" approach to the issues Cortina faced in hosting the event.

"We asked: ‘What are the issues for Cortina infrastructure today? How can we make not just a new infrastructure but one that will work for the future of Cortina?," Benetton said.

"Cortina has a clear issue in terms of mobility. 

"So we have been working with the sponsors who have been behind us, such as Audi and the energy company, and said to them – ‘Ok, if we think about mobility for the skiing we think about this so we will have less cars in the street, and less CO2 production at the peak of the season.’

"And we designed a system that today will express the maximum at the Olympic Games, where we will try to make mobility for sports people and skiers, but also for summer bikers and so forth, to start from the centre of the town without getting behind the wheel of a car.

"We also had new ski slopes made from an enlargement of an old one. 

"So we can imagine a space that is going to be useful for ski races, but also can be used for picnics or bike tours in the summer. 

"This means we are giving an improvement to the summer economical benefits as well, not making something that will become useless after the event has finished. 

"We have been thinking of how we can make something that will be helpful for the future in other directions as well."