Val d'Isere: winds cancel men's slalom

By Published On: December 14th, 2008Comments Off on Val d'Isere: winds cancel men's slalom

Nasty winds that cut visibility to a matter of feet forced the cancellation of the Men’s World Cup slalom set this morning in Val d’Isere, France.

“The organizers did a good job preparing the track for today’s race. We went through inspection and everything course-wise was set to go,” said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick. “Unfortunately, we have really high winds here and the winds are expected to continue increasing throughout the day.”




Nasty winds that cut visibility to a matter of feet forced the cancellation of the Men’s World Cup slalom set this morning in Val d’Isere, France.

“The organizers did a good job preparing the track for today’s race. We went through inspection and everything course-wise was set to go,” said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick. “Unfortunately, we have really high winds here and the winds are expected to continue increasing throughout the day.”

Organizers said the area was experiencing wind gusts up to 120kph, or nearly 75mph.

FIS race director Gunter Hujara said, “This was a preventive measure due to the potential risk to the racers whose safety is our primary concern, There was also great concern about the race officials on the course as well as about spectators in the finish area due to the high winds and expectations of strong gusts of wind.”

Coach rearick said the jury met hard and long coming to the decision to cancel. No word, yet, on where the race will be moved, but Hujara indicated it would be rescheduled before the holidays. That could put the slalom at Alta Badia as the other two pre-Christmas stops (Val Gardena and Bormio) are both speed events.

“The wind was blowing gates up the hill and visibility was difficult with the blowing snow. It would be unsafe to race today, that was the right decision by the jury,” Rearick confirmed.

He added, “”The technical team will go directly to Hinterreit, Austria today to prepare for a giant slalom in Alta Badia, Italy next Sunday. They have an excellent training slope already prepared and we’ve had awesome training camps there before. The speed team is in Patsch, Austria for a recovery camp designed by U.S. Ski Team Sports Science in order to get ready for a downhill and super G in Groeden, Italy.”


The Super G at Val Gardena/Groeden is planned for Friday Dec. 19 and downhill Saturday, Dec. 20.



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About the Author: Pete Rugh