From the point of view of last year’s overall winner Mikaela Shiffrin, the start of the Alpine Ski World Cup at the end of October comes too early. “I can get into the mental state to race at any time, even in warm temperatures. But does it really make sense?”asked the 28-year-old US racer on Thursday at a media event in Altenmarkt, Austria.
“To what degree should we adapt our environment to a schedule that we want? Or should we adapt our schedules to the environment?”asked Shiffrin at an untypical October 23 degrees. “The calendar should be reconsidered”said the five-time overall World Cup winner.
Problem: No training locations available
The World Cup season is scheduled to begin on October 28th and 29th with the men’s and women’s giant slalom races in the Tyrolean ski resort of Sölden. The organizers would get the slopes ready for racing this time too, but the problem is that there are fewer and fewer training locations in Europe in the pre-season, said Shiffrin. She is still herself “not at all” ready for a challenging 45-race winter, she said. Mikaela Shiffrin is the most successful female ski racer in alpine history.
Open letter to the FIS
At last season’s finale in Andorra last March, she celebrated her 88th World Cup victory. The partner of Norway’s alpine star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was one of winter athletes from all over the world who wrote an open letter calling on the world ski association FIS to take a pioneering role in the fight against climate change.
The approximately 150 top athletes had called for a sustainability strategy, a new racing calendar and more environmentally friendly travel routes. In addition, all FIS events should be climate-neutral in the future.