Balance sheet of the race director – Waldner calls for calendar reform – Sport

“We are not moving in the right direction”: FIS race director Markus Waldner is critical of the latest developments in alpine skiing. The South Tyrolean is calling for adjustments to the racing calendar and material, also to reduce the risk of injury. Otherwise there is a risk of a loss of viewers, he warns. Waldner’s most important statements in the SRF season review interview:

• About the racing prospects in Saalbach: “The forecast calls for rain overnight and on Saturday morning. We have to deal with that. The organizers have done their homework and laid a good foundation. Today we salted, tomorrow we will do it again. Whether we start from the top or from the women’s start will be decided an hour before the race starts.
• About the capricious weather over the course of the season: “We felt the effects of climate change this year. We were pretty unlucky from the first race. I think, unfortunately, we will experience more and more such phenomena in the future. Extreme changes were common this year: in Kitzbühel it was minus 15 degrees, two days later in Schladming it was plus 15. We have to be prepared for the fact that the conditions don’t always meet the high expectations.

13 runs – amazing. 13 slaloms – amazing.

• About the World Cup calendar: «You can reduce the risk with good calendar planning. Especially at the start of the season, it is important to see where there is a high guarantee of snow. The calendar was not optimal and overloaded from the start. 13 runs – amazing. 13 slaloms – amazing. If the final can be run, we will have 10 slaloms, 10 giant slaloms, 9 downhills and 7 super-Gs. That’s a good number. Time for regeneration and avoiding over-saturation are further reasons against running too many races.
• About the races in Zermatt: «This is a sensitive question. As far as I know, the FIS and Swiss-Ski are proposing to keep the races on the calendar as long as the insurance issue is clarified. We’ll have to see whether that makes sense or not. The runners were actually pretty opposed to it.”
• About the series of injuries: “This issue became acute this year because it mainly affected top stars, both on the women’s and men’s sides. But injuries happen every year. Our job is to reduce the number of injuries, including at junior level. The routes are groomed very hard for fairness reasons, the skis develop accordingly, the athletes push themselves to the limit – the overall package becomes extremely aggressive. But you have to look at each accident individually.”
• About the trend in alpine skiing: «We are not moving in the right direction. We have to learn from mistakes and implement the adjustments – to the calendar, to the material. I called for cut-resistant underwear eight years ago. The airbag is on the agenda. You also have to look at the binding plates. The inner position in the giant slalom is becoming more and more extreme. Carbon insoles, carbon socks – we have to intervene sharply and block certain developments.”