Industry News
The unseasonably warm weather has forced the cancellation of the first-ever cross-border FIS World Cup planned for next weekend, October 29, in Zermatt, Switzerland, and Cervinia, Italy. The bottom part of the course was not covered in sufficient snow to allow for a safe event.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation’ FIS’ announced on Saturday, October 22, 2022, after the federation’s final ‘snow control’ deemed the cover unsafe for competition. It had rained in the lead-up to the race, eroding the carefully prepared snow cover on the lower half of the race course ‘Gran Becca.’
After tireless preparations by the Local Organizing Committee ‘LOC,’ the decision was not easy. The organizers were hoping to be able to hold the women’s races on November 5-6, 2022, as planned, but they, too, were canceled this afternoon following snow control.
After today’s snow control in Zermatt-Cervinia , the two women’s downhill races scheduled for November 5th and 6th, have been canceled due to the warm weather conditions.
Across the border in Austria, the women’s GS event and season opener in Sölden also had to be called off. While the FIS committee’s ‘snow control’ had given the go-ahead for the race, rain and poor visibility forced the LOC to cancel the race. US race skier Mikaela Shiffrin had traveled to Austria to defend last year’s title. Despite the race being canceled, she still went to the race course to meet and greet fans.
The men’s Giant-Slalom event in Sölden the following day went ahead as planned. The winner was Giant-Slalom King Marco Odermatt from Switzerland, who had also won the same race last year. America’s Tommy Ford came 26th after the first run. Only the top 30 qualify for a second run, and Tommy smashed it out of the park with the fastest second run time on the day (typically, the second run is slower as the course is more rutted and the snow is often softer and thus slower), securing a sixth place overall. River Radamus placed 11th after his first run but had a comparably slower second run, putting him in 26th overall after the second run. Ryan Cochran-Siegle just missed out on qualifying for the second run, placing 31st in the first run, and Isaiah Nelson had come 45th in his first run.
The Freestyle season opener was not affected by the weather. The Big Air Festival in Chur, Switzerland, went ahead as planned on Friday, 21, and Saturday, 22, 2022. American rookie 18-year-old Troy Podmilsak came third with a smashing run under the festival’s flood lights, securing his first-ever World Cup Podium.
