Rome (AFP)
The Alpine Skiing World Cup finals originally scheduled for March 16-22 in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy) have been canceled due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Italian Ski Federation (Fisi) announced Friday.
Until the end of the season, there are still four men's races left - a downhill and a super-G this weekend in Kvitfjell in Norway, then a giant slalom and a slalom in Kranjska Gora in Slovenia on 14 and 15 March- and three in the ladies' - a parallel slalom, a giant slalom and a slalom in Are in Sweden on March 12, 13 and 14.
Fisi offered to hold the event behind closed doors, a proposal rejected by all members of the FIS council, except the Italian representative, thus forcing the organizers to cancel the finals, Fisi said in a statement published Friday evening.
"It was with great regret that I took note of this decision, but each member of the Council justified its decision to cancel the finals with the limits which their respective governments imposed on them with regard to the epidemic of coronavirus, "said Fisi president Flavio Roda.
The finals will neither be picked up nor moved to another location, added Fisi. For men, it is therefore a three-way fight for the big crystal globe between the Frenchman Alexis Pinturault, currently in the lead, and the Norwegians Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (26 points behind) and Henrik Kristoffersen (107), which will condense on two stages.
Speed specialist Kilde will have the advantage at home on Saturday and Sunday to take control of the World Cup, even if the French decided to line up in downhill (his first since January 2013) and in super-G at Kvitfjell to try to grab points on all terrains.
Pinturault and Kristoffersen, specialists in technical disciplines, will have two races at Kranjska Gora which will be more favorable to them.
Among the ladies, the Italian Federica Brignone is very close to a first big crystal globe: she is 153 points behind Mikaela Shiffrin, while there are only 300 points left to distribute.
Shiffrin, absent from the tracks after the sudden death of his father Jeff (65) in early February, will return to Sweden for the last races of the season.
Italy, the most affected country in Europe, recorded Friday 49 new deaths linked to the coronavirus in 24 hours, that is to say 197 deaths since the beginning of the epidemic.
© 2020 AFP