The International Ski Federation (FIS) has been overtaken by environmental realities. After canceling, on Saturday October 22, the two men’s downhills scheduled for October 29 and 30 in Zermatt (Switzerland), the FIS announced on Tuesday October 25 that it was also giving up those for women, on November 5 and 6 in the Valais resort located at the foot of the Matterhorn. The fault of “abnormally hot temperatures” and the lack of ” security “.
This is a failure for the FIS, forced to completely cancel its new flagship stage. At the opening of the Alpine Skiing World Cup in Sölden (Austria) on Friday 21 October, Johan Eliasch, the President of the FIS, insisted on the importance of this new project which promised to be spectacular, with a start at 3,700 meters above sea level and a cross-border track at the foot of the iconic Matterhorn. ” After Sölden, nothing happened for a month. We wanted to be able to fill in the gaps in the calendar, he then explained. Zermatt is a great opportunity, an important step. »
“We need to review the whole project”
But global warming and another scorching summer that worsened the melting of the glaciers – they lost more than 6% of their total volume in Switzerland, a record – thwarted their plans. ” We need to review the whole project and find a better solution for the schedule. The races were surely placed too earlyadmitted, on Saturday, the director of the men’s races of the FIS, Markus Waldner. We must respect Mother Nature. The climate is changing, we have scorching summers, these are signals that we must observe and respect. »
Same observation on the side of the president of the Swiss federation, Urs Lehmann, who considers that these races should be put ” two weeks later ” in next season’s calendar and who would have liked them to take place only from 2023, the FIS having “put a lot of pressure” for them to be organized this year.
The FIS had already been criticized for its lack of consideration and lucidity on environmental issues, particularly on the part of French skier Johan Clarey. The Olympic downhill vice-champion described this new downhill as “nonsense” environment and logistics. “We see that the conditions on the glaciers are getting worse and worse every year, this stage requires enormous resources. (…) I don’t understand, it’s not going the way the FIS should be going.”the silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics told Agence France-Presse.
The FIS will now have to ensure that this misstep does not happen again. Especially since, according to local Austrian media, the Lech track (Austria), where the season is due to resume on November 12 and 13, is currently free of snow, and the high temperatures do not allow use cannons to create artificial ones.