To qualify for the ski cross race in Russia, 33 women and 67 men should start. But everyone withdrew their participation due to the political situation – except for the host athletes.
In view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Ski Federation (FIS) was initially unable to bring itself to cancel the World Cups in Russia. Qualifying for the weekend’s ski cross races in Sunny Valley in the Urals only took place on Friday as planned – but it turned into a farce due to the withdrawal of all teams except the hosts.
In the women’s category, only seven Russian runners qualified, their 26 originally registered competitors withdrew their participation.
Six Russians instead of 67 participants at the start
Of the 67 potential starters for the men, only six Russians remained. The German Ski Association (DSV) had registered an eight-man team around Olympic third-placed Daniela Maier for the races in Sunny Valley – but withdrew them on Thursday.
“Our top priority is that the DSV does not take any risks and, if in doubt, always refrains from participating in international events,” said board member Stefan Schwarzbach to the SID on Thursday.
FIS has responded
However, later on Friday morning, the International Ski Federation canceled all World Cups that were still planned in Russia. In the interest of the “safety of everyone involved and to preserve the integrity of the World Cup”, the competitions in question that are still planned for this season should either be canceled or relocated to other locations.
First affected are the ski cross races in Sunny Valley in the Urals and the aerials competitions in Yaroslavl northeast of Moscow this weekend. There is also the Cross-Country World Cup in Tyumen (March 18-20) and the Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup in Nizhny Tagil (March 18-20) and in Tchaikovsky (March 25-27). New dates and venues have not yet been determined.