Two slaloms of the men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup have been moved from Kitzbuhel in Austria to another Austrian resort, Flachau, where the women’s slalom was held yesterday. The dates of the stage have not changed: on January 16 and 17, two slalom races will be held in Flachau. The rest of the competition, scheduled in Kitzbuhel at the end of next week, will be held without changes.
Due to the cancellation of the stage in Wengen (Switzerland), two of the three races moved to Austria. According to the changed calendar of the Alpine Skiing World Cup, two slaloms will be held in Austria next weekend, and next week, from January 22 to 24, as part of the famous “Hahnenkamm races” – two downhill races and a supergiant.
The official FIS report does not specify the reasons for the transfer of the two slaloms, which are usually held on one of the most interesting tracks of the World Cup, on Ganslernhang or, for short, Ganslern. However, it is possible that this is due to new mass cases of British instructors in Jochberg, near Kitzbuhel.
This is the second postponement of these competitions in the past two days. On January 11, it became known that Kitzbuhel will be able to take the slalom that was canceled in Wengen. Then the organizers of the competition, together with the FIS, decided to hold two slaloms in a row – on January 16 and 17, and not as originally planned, with a difference of a week, on January 17 and 24.
A little later today, we received information about why the two slaloms were decided to be postponed again. It is reported that at the request of the Austrian authorities and the government of Tyrol, more time is needed to ensure the maximum safety of all participants in the competition (in particular, to conduct mass tests and get their results), so the competition was moved to Salzburgerland, where Flachau is located.
Thus, in Kitzbuhel, for the first time in many years of competition, there will be no men’s slalom on the Gansler (a track with a maximum slope of 72%).
