Val d'Isère (France) (AFP)

The weather spares nothing in Val d'Isère ... A week after the giant gentlemen, the ladies' downhill could not have been run on Saturday, while the forecast for Sunday is still worrying.

The organizers hoped on Friday that they could start the race, but the weather was less than expected.

"It snowed yesterday at the start of the evening until 9am, a little more than expected, then we got to work with the machines to remove the snow. At 2am, the track was clear and ready, the sky clear, said the director of the women's circuit Peter Gerdol. This morning around 4 am it started to snow again and it never stopped, unfortunately, contrary to expectations. With the high temperatures, there were three places where the base of the runway was very damaged. It was too dangerous to run downhill on these sections. That is why we decided to cancel. "

The descent was finally rescheduled Sunday at 11:00 am, in place of the alpine combined (super-G followed by a slalom) which was planned. But even on Sunday, the holding of a race is compromised with between 40 and 60 cm of snowfall announced.

- "It's been a lot" -

Val d'Isère continues the disappointments with the weather: a year ago already, the two women's races (due to lack of snow) and the men's slalom (wind) had been canceled.

This year, the wind has already got the better of the men's giant last weekend, a race rescheduled in Hinterstoder (Austria) on March 1st.

"It's clear that it's been a lot, out of four planned races it's already been two canceled," deplored the director of the Val d'Isère sports club Ingrid Jacquemod, organizer of the competition. It's difficult to keep our troops motivated , because behind the scenes it's a lot of work day and night. "

The cancellations also involve financial losses "heavy to digest" despite the insurance, without Ms. Jacquemod not wanting to disclose the amounts.

Should the number of cancellations question the choice of dates for the event?

"This beginning of winter is not easy for anyone, Val Gardena in Italy canceled today (the downhill gentlemen, note), continued Ingrid Jacquemod. It's the fault of no luck. We have four competitions to be delivered in two weeks, so we increase risk-taking. Here, we have a + warmth + rarely seen as Christmas approaches. But in February, we wouldn't be immune to bad weather, don't question the dates. "

The turn of events should not displease the triple champion of the big American Globe Mikaela Shiffrin, who preferred to ignore the French weekend after a disappointing 17th place on the giant of Courchevel on Tuesday.

© 2019 AFP