Alpine skiing: the second World Cup descent from Zermatt-Cervinia canceled in turn

2023-11-12 10:28:54

Not enough snow last year, too much this year: the second men’s downhill scheduled for Sunday between Zermatt (Switzerland) and Cervinia (Italy) was canceled, like the first the day before, pushing back the start of the men’s snow season until early December. alpine skiing and compromising the future of this new stage.

“Due to the heavy snowfall which began early this morning, as well as the strong wind, taking into account today’s forecasts and to guarantee everyone’s safety”, the jury and the organizers gave up this second race, explains a spokesperson for the FIS on the social network Telegram.

As the wind had already interrupted the men’s giant in Sölden (Austria) at the end of October, the skiers will have to wait for the American stage of Beaver Creek, with two descents and a super-G from December 1 to 3, to start their season. The women were able to complete the giant of Sölden then the slalom of Levi (Finland) on Saturday.

Six renunciations for as many attempts

This new setback also compromises the future of the Zermatt-Cervinia stage, the first cross-border event of the world circuit announced at the start of 2022 to create an “opening of the speed season” just after Sölden, but which has never yet been able to take place. hold.

The descent of the “Gran Becca”, which starts from a glacier in Switzerland at an altitude of nearly 3,800 m to end in Italy, has seen six abandonments for as many attempts: both the men’s and women’s descents had already canceled last year due to lack of snow at the bottom of the route.

The stage, with the men’s races this weekend and the women’s races next weekend, was postponed by two weeks this year, and the already wintery conditions allowed the first training to take place on Wednesday.

But the return of the flakes forced the cancellation of the two other sessions on Thursday and Friday, before the even heavier snow prevented the track from being smoothed to allow the competitors to set off at more than 100km/h this weekend, especially in high winds and on a trail that they are still discovering.