Rebellious! Alpine Skiing World Cup events were again canceled due to weather conditions. The International Ski Federation announced on Sunday that the women’s and men’s parallel slaloms scheduled for the weekend of November 12 and 13 in Lech/Zürs in Austria would not take place, due to weather conditions and forecasts.
Already seven races canceled since the start of the season
“Snowfall and cold temperatures in recent days have brought optimism, unfortunately they were only short-lived. In addition, for the next few days and the race weekend, temperatures will rise again.“, explained the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV), in a press release relayed by our colleagues from AFP.
This cancellation was decided this Sunday, after the traditional “snow control” (snow control), in the station in western Austria located at 1,500 meters above sea level. On the French side, Alexis Pinturault, Victor Muffat-Jeandet, Clément Noël, Coralie Frasse Sombet and Clara Direz were to participate in these parallel slaloms.
Since the start of the 2022-2023 season, only one test proceeded normally : the men’s giant slalom in Sölden on October 23. The giant lady had been canceled the day before. Same thing for the four descents planned in Zermatt/Cervinia (Switzerland/Italy) the following weekend.
For Alexis Pinturault, we should “attack the season a bit later”
Reached by telephone, Alexis Pinturault explains that he is not particularly surprised by these cancellations at the start of the season. “For Zermatt/Cervina, we knew full well that it was going to be extremely difficult to prepare for a descent at this time of year.“, says the Savoyard skier, big crystal globe winner in 2021. “For Lech, we know it can be early in the season. The event took place two years in a row, but it was canceled three years ago. Depending on the year, we can have months of October or November which are relatively hot.”
According to him, the difficulty this year, is that the Fis decided to put World Cup events relatively early in the calendar. “These are times that are not necessarily very conducive to adding World Cup events. In my opinion, it might be more interesting to put some at the end of the season. It stops around March 20 and I think we could easily push it back until mid-April“, continues Alexis Pinturault. “We could start the season a bit later, it would make it much easier to prepare for the first World Cup events. Historically, snow falls in November on all European mountains and North America, so wanting to start earlier doesn’t really make sense. While finishing later would be relatively easy.“