DSV alpine director Wolfgang Maier reacted irritably to a move by world association boss Johan Eliasch to start the season later for ski racers.
This would be a fundamentally welcome “step that softens the fronts somewhat,” said Maier. However, “it is very astonishing to everyone here that a president who is currently in Thailand would want to influence a decision that he saw completely differently last year. That was received very suspiciously here.”
Especially at the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV), which Eliasch portrayed as a scapegoat with his surprising about-face in the calendar discussion. “I also don’t understand who is interested in ski races in October and why we ski on glaciers without snow. I hope that the ÖSV is open to moving it back,” Eliasch told “ORF”.
Eliasch’s FIS has always defended the last word and the early date in the calendar design. “We are and have always been willing to talk and will find a good solution together with the FIS,” said ÖSV General Secretary Christian Scherer about the change. Accordingly, a postponement of the start of the World Cup by two weeks is conceivable.
That would be entirely in the spirit of Maier and the German Ski Association, which would “very much welcome” a postponement, as he assured. “We have a clear position,” said Maier: “We want to adapt – and we want to keep Sölden. But if it’s mid-November, that’s fine with us too.” A “gigantic ski festival” like this is “exactly what the sport needs” – but at the right time in times of climate change.