Maarten Meiners from Huizen does not see a bright future for competitive skiing in Europe. The best skier from the Netherlands has to watch passively as global warming means fewer and fewer ski slopes are available in the Alps in the summer.
“Global warming is certainly relevant to our sport,” says Meiners in front of the camera of the NOS. “We have now been able to train well here in Switzerland, but only half the slopes were available compared to recent years. If that trend continues in the next ten or twenty years, summer skiing will be a difficult story.”
To adjust
Meiners, who op finished 18th at the Beijing Winter Olympics last year in the giant slalom, fortunately sees that things are going well in the European winters for the time being. “We have seen that there is still a lot of snow in the winter, but it is something to take into account. We may have to adapt to this in the coming years.”
The 30-year-old skier is currently in the Alps to compete in the World Cup cycle. Last weekend there was little success for Meiners at the World Cup competition in Alta Badia in Italy. Despite the flu, Meiners took off anyway, but had to abort his first descent prematurely.
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