Berliner Boersenzeitung - Zermatt-Cervinia curse strikes again as wind wipes out World Cup downhill

EUR -
AED 4.154466
AFN 79.136385
ALL 97.881276
AMD 433.971726
ANG 2.024329
AOA 1037.792925
ARS 1285.124849
AUD 1.757857
AWG 2.037417
AZN 1.924318
BAM 1.949798
BBD 2.284567
BDT 137.819997
BGN 1.949677
BHD 0.426439
BIF 3367.492983
BMD 1.131113
BND 1.455558
BOB 7.819137
BRL 6.475394
BSD 1.131547
BTN 96.452783
BWP 15.188646
BYN 3.702999
BYR 22169.813988
BZD 2.272863
CAD 1.564403
CDF 3240.63891
CHF 0.930437
CLF 0.027804
CLP 1066.95669
CNY 8.148875
CNH 8.126628
COP 4723.900982
CRC 575.5435
CUC 1.131113
CUP 29.974493
CVE 109.927569
CZK 24.916148
DJF 201.495058
DKK 7.459447
DOP 66.824287
DZD 149.848827
EGP 56.4437
ERN 16.966694
ETB 153.178814
FJD 2.556259
FKP 0.842559
GBP 0.839065
GEL 3.099512
GGP 0.842559
GHS 12.502843
GIP 0.842559
GMD 81.440531
GNF 9801.825858
GTQ 8.685263
GYD 236.727532
HKD 8.858831
HNL 29.452333
HRK 7.523054
HTG 148.054227
HUF 403.754129
IDR 18394.554822
ILS 4.096835
IMP 0.842559
INR 96.66463
IQD 1482.237051
IRR 47648.133424
ISK 144.974968
JEP 0.842559
JMD 179.80648
JOD 0.801954
JPY 161.207914
KES 146.128258
KGS 98.916094
KHR 4529.177412
KMF 491.46865
KPW 1017.956233
KRW 1557.112848
KWD 0.346867
KYD 0.942922
KZT 578.718693
LAK 24446.392104
LBP 101382.490976
LKR 338.747194
LRD 226.299357
LSL 20.252853
LTL 3.339883
LVL 0.684199
LYD 6.181969
MAD 10.400682
MDL 19.620121
MGA 5059.558743
MKD 61.251137
MMK 2374.898079
MNT 4043.521341
MOP 9.125749
MRU 44.998476
MUR 51.703067
MVR 17.486899
MWK 1962.012139
MXN 21.881318
MYR 4.785746
MZN 72.289707
NAD 20.252853
NGN 1798.051114
NIO 41.642543
NOK 11.529185
NPR 154.326013
NZD 1.902034
OMR 0.435415
PAB 1.131547
PEN 4.139829
PGK 4.63872
PHP 62.646662
PKR 318.914647
PLN 4.262452
PYG 9027.290014
QAR 4.124041
RON 5.051698
RSD 116.863345
RUB 90.074459
RWF 1620.853321
SAR 4.242235
SBD 9.445661
SCR 16.078697
SDG 679.235046
SEK 10.836752
SGD 1.456619
SHP 0.888877
SLE 25.699049
SLL 23718.873427
SOS 646.626562
SRD 41.455594
STD 23411.754535
SVC 9.900522
SYP 14705.822636
SZL 20.248026
THB 36.814357
TJS 11.597904
TMT 3.964551
TND 3.382089
TOP 2.649178
TRY 44.148798
TTD 7.691526
TWD 33.959458
TZS 3051.173817
UAH 46.96723
UGX 4130.285245
USD 1.131113
UYU 47.005298
UZS 14601.051822
VES 107.282134
VND 29356.905727
VUV 137.052207
WST 3.130475
XAF 653.961177
XAG 0.034236
XAU 0.000337
XCD 3.056889
XDR 0.814632
XOF 653.949649
XPF 119.331742
YER 275.821673
ZAR 20.342818
ZMK 10181.400748
ZMW 30.946554
ZWL 364.217911
  • RBGPF

    66.2000

    66.2

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    11.27

    -0.35%

  • GSK

    0.3800

    38.92

    +0.98%

  • CMSC

    -0.0900

    21.96

    -0.41%

  • NGG

    0.0600

    73.63

    +0.08%

  • SCS

    0.1400

    10.15

    +1.38%

  • VOD

    0.1200

    10.54

    +1.14%

  • CMSD

    -0.0600

    21.73

    -0.28%

  • RIO

    -0.8600

    61.12

    -1.41%

  • BCC

    0.0000

    87.33

    0%

  • JRI

    -0.0800

    12.64

    -0.63%

  • AZN

    0.2700

    69.95

    +0.39%

  • RELX

    -0.1200

    54.98

    -0.22%

  • BP

    0.0600

    28.94

    +0.21%

  • BCE

    0.0000

    21.47

    0%

  • BTI

    0.1400

    44.6

    +0.31%

Zermatt-Cervinia curse strikes again as wind wipes out World Cup downhill
Zermatt-Cervinia curse strikes again as wind wipes out World Cup downhill / Photo: Marco BERTORELLO - AFP

Zermatt-Cervinia curse strikes again as wind wipes out World Cup downhill

Zermatt-Cervinia once again fell victim to Mother Nature after the women's World Cup downhill scheduled for Sunday morning was cancelled due to strong winds pummelling the piste.

Text size:

The first-ever event to straddle and cross the Italy-Switzerland border has been hit with a second straight blank season following Sunday's cancellation.

It comes after Saturday's race and two men's events last weekend were also abandoned and raises questions about the feasibility of holding events on the high-altitude piste.

The International Ski Federation announced the decision to cancel at the last minute, just as it did on Saturday, after a series of short postponements made in the hope that at least one of the weekend's two downhills could take place.

"Nature has the last word," said Franz Julen, the director of the organising committee on Saturday, referring to a lack of luck this year with a particularly challenging November.

"We're an outdoor sport, natures decides, we have to respect that," he said.

The Zermatt-Cervinia event was announced with great fanfare at the beginning of 2022 but lack of snow forced last year's races to be abandoned, while this and last weekend's events were hit by powerful gusts which made the rapid descents too dangerous.

All eight races scheduled for the piste, located on a glacier at an altitude of 3,500 metres, over the past two years have had to be cancelled.

"I think we've seen the limits of this race," said Johan Clarey, downhill silver medallist at the last Winter Olympics.

"Organising races at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters in November in a glacier area obviously increases the risk of cancellation."

The cross-border event has been the subject of considerable environmental controversy due to the logistics of preparing the piste which require helicopters and excavators on the glacier.

And retired Clarey, along with other still-active skiers, would like to see the alpine season start later in the year.

But Julen said "it is out of the question to give up" on the event, for which the organisers, the FIS and the Swiss and Italian winter sports federations signed a five-year contract.

"Logistics wise, it's impossible to do the race later on. Our only window is November, otherwise it's not possible for us," said Julen.

"The work on the glacier would be more than in autumn. Because we'd have to take three, four, five meters of snow away then we still have to fill up the crevasses."

Julen also added that sponsor interest would not be significant enough to justify the event at the end of the winter, as brands want to get visibility for skiing in the autumn, before the start of the tourist season and in the run-up to Christmas.

(T.Renner--BBZ)