The Alpine Skiing World Cup will skip the Yanqing stage, north of Beijing, scheduled for mid-February. The International Federation (FIS) announced on Wednesday that all the trials were canceled due to the coronavirus epidemic that is affecting the country.
"Due to the epidemic and the continued spread of the new coronavirus, the FIS and the Chinese Ski Association have jointly decided to cancel the next men's World Cup races," the FIS said in a statement. This race was to be the first test event before the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
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- 20 Minutes (@ 20Minutes) January 27, 2020Xiaohaituo Mountain in Yanqing District, about 50 km north of Beijing, was to host a downhill and men's super-G on February 15 and 16. The FIS has not specified whether these events will be rescheduled at another station. "Although the risk is low in Yanqing, the health of the athletes and all participants must be our priority," said FIS President Gian Franco Kasper, quoted in the statement.
A SARS-family coronavirus has been spreading at high speed in China since December, with nearly 6,000 cases of contamination and 132 deaths reported in China, while the authorities have taken drastic measures on movements in and out of the country.
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