Saturday, October 22nd was set to be the beginning of the competition season for the best women alpine skiers in the world. First time World Cup competitors and experienced racers gathered in Sölden, Austria, for the giant slalom race meant to kick off the season, including Mikaela Shiffrin. Unfortunately for everyone involved, however, it soon became clear that the race wasn’t meant to be.
According to Eurosport, Friday brought strong winds, leaving both general resort skiing and on-course training inaccessible. For a few hours later in the night, rain dotted the course, and Saturday morning came with wet snow, leading the International Ski Foundation (FIS) to cancel Saturday’s race. Any announcements relating to rescheduling have not yet been made.
Due to the current weather situation and the future weather forecast, today's @soeldencom woman’s Giant Slalom is cancelled. #fisalpine
— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) October 22, 2022
Question’s surrounding weather did appear for the men’s race set to take place on Sunday, October 23rd, but, fortunately, conditions improved and allowed for the World Cup season to begin. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland took first place in Sölden, with Žan Kranjec of Slovenia and Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway following behind.
The FIS also announced the cancellation of men’s downhill races set to take place in Zermatt-Cervinia on October 29th and 30th due to a lack of snow. Those races will not be rescheduled. Assuming no cancellations, the next Alpine World Cup event is set to take place on November 5th and 6th in Zermatt-Cervinia with two women’s downhill races.
Due to the lack of snow and the safety situation on last section of the race track the men’s Audi FIS Ski World Cup downhill races in Zermatt-Cervinia (SUI) scheduled on 29th – 30th October 2022 are cancelled.
FIS will not replace the two cancelled downhill races.#fisalpine pic.twitter.com/EiZFCZAgCJ— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) October 22, 2022
Image Credit: Sölden in Tirol via Instagram
