© Marco TrovatiSnowcats clear the snow along the Olympia delle Tofane course after a women's alpine combined race was canceled due to heavy snowfall, at the alpine ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021.
The opening event of the Alpine skiing world championships scheduled for Monday was postponed due to heavy snowfall.
Organizers called the women's combined off with no immediate new date for the race announced, although the International Ski Federation said information about rescheduling would come later.
A meter (3 feet) of snow has fallen since Sunday and more was still coming down Monday afternoon, making it nearly impossible to create a hard and reliable racing surface.
The forecast calls for better weather later in the week, from Thursday onward.
"I'm anxiously awaiting Thursday so I can see my mountains and show how beautiful they are," said Alberto Ghezze, who is in charge of the courses for the organizing committee.
Still, it's a rough start for an event that was already deprived of fans due to a nationwide ban on spectators at sports competitions in Italy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Aware of the forecast, organizers had already swapped the two portions of the combined, putting the slalom first and running the super-G as the second leg. The winner of the event is determined by adding together the skiers' times from the two runs.
Mikaela Shiffrin, Petra Vlhova, Michelle Gisin and Federica Brignone are among the favorites in combined.
The men's and women's super-G races are scheduled for Tuesday on separate courses — the Olympia delle Tofane for the women and the newly developed Vertigine for the men.
"The women's course definitely had a bit of an advantage, because they started working there first," Ghezze said. "The women's course is in better shape than the men's course."
So would it be possible to hold the men's super-G on the women's course immediately after the women's super-G?
"It would be very complicated in terms of finding enough time for course setting and inspection. But anything is possible," Ghezze said. "Having two course sets and two inspection sessions would be a lot. We want to have the men's race on the Vertigine, so we'll do everything we can to hold it on the Vertigine.
"I've got enough men. It's the snow that has to stop."
Making matters more complicated for course workers is the risk of avalanches.
"We've had 5 meters (15 feet) of snowfall in a month," Ghezze said. "So we've got to make sure everyone is working in safe conditions."
Next Monday is a reserve day in the schedule.
Source: AP
R.C.