The Alpine World Cup is in a rage after several serious falls. “Higher, faster and further” – that is destroying the sport, says German alpine director Wolfgang Maier. But the mammoth program is not the only problem.
The criticism of the alpine ski competition calendar with too many dangerous races in too short a time continues even two days after Aleksander Aamodt Kilde’s serious fall in Wengen. After the speed weekend at the Lauberhorn in Switzerland, the next challenging weekend is coming up this week. There will be two runs on the legendary Streif in Kitzbühel on Friday (January 19, 2024) and Saturday, before the slalom takes place at a slower pace down into the valley on Sunday.
The world association FIS and the race calendar that is too dense from the drivers’ point of view are particularly criticized. “What the FIS expects of athletes with its racing program is unhealthy”, complains Christian Höflehner, racing director of the equipment brand “Atomic”, in the Swiss tabloid “Blick”. Austria’s “Kronen Zeitung” headlines dramatically: “Alarm for Kitzbühel” and also quotes Höflehner: “If parents see more and more violent falls on TV broadcasts of ski races, they will eventually ban their children from going to ski clubs and ski races.”
“I hope this is the last time, never again three races in a row”even complained winner Marco Odermatt, who won both downhill runs on the Lauberhorn. Wengen should “a lesson” “for every venue, for every association, for the FIS, that more is not always better”.
45 races in 148 days
In just 148 days of the winter season, men and women each have to complete 45 races. Not just in Europe, the World Cup circus flies to North America twice. These are the numbers for a mammoth winter program. At the Wengen Men’s World Cup, the athletes were on skis for six days; in addition to two downhill training sessions, three speed competitions and a slalom were on the agenda.
Maier: “There is not just one truth”
The German Alpine boss Wolfgang Maier only partially agrees with the criticism. “There is not just one truth”in an interview with the sports information service (sid), the 63-year-old refers to individual driving errors in the serious crashes of top stars Marco Schwarz in Bormio or Alexis Pinturault and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
Erich Wartusch, sports show
Maier: Too many departures
The “real problem” Maier sees, and he is not alone, in World Association President Johan Eliasch. The Swedish-British businessman interfered too much in the calendar planning and overloaded the program with departures in a very short space of time. Because it was not possible to race in Beaver Creek/USA and at Eliasch’s prestigious project in Zermatt/Cervinia due to the weather, the races were rescheduled – to the applause of many athletes, by the way, as every cancellation costs attention and money
Maier is also bothered by this “higher faster further”, more and more action. So, he said, would “An attractive sport has been seriously damaged. This has to come to an end because people can’t take it anymore.”
After all: FIS race director Markus Waldner has already announced that there will be no more make-up races for canceled competitions under his direction.