Alpine skiing: World championships opener postponed due to heavy snow

February 8, 2021

(Reuters) – The opening women’s combined race at the Alpine skiing world championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo was postponed on Monday due to heavy overnight snow in the Italian Dolomites.

Organisers had already reversed the order of the combined as a precaution due to the weather forecast, with the technical slalom leg brought forward to precede the super-G in the two-part event.

They said the work required on the slope forced them to postpone the event, with a track inspection and team captains’ meeting later.

“I didn’t sleep that much, it was a long night. When we saw at three o’clock that it was snowing so heavy, we were quite sure that it would be very difficult,” said women’s race director Peter Gerdol.

He said volunteers were working to prepare the courses for men’s and women’s individual super-G races scheduled for Tuesday.

“The plan is to stick to the original plan and have the two super-Gs tomorrow,” he added. “The weather forecast is promising at the moment, it seems it will not be snowing again until tomorrow afternoon or night.

“It should be possible to have both races tomorrow, I am quite confident.”

The championships are going ahead without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)