Winds gusting up to 75 mph on Rettenbach Glacier forced the cancellation of the opening giant slalom World Cup event for the men in Sölden, Austria on Sunday.
“The local authority, the organizing committee and the race jury came together at 5:30 AM this morning to evaluate the situation on the glacier,” said FIS Chief Race Director Markus Waldner in an announcement on FIS-ski.com.
“At first, we decided to stand by and delay the final decision to 6:45 AM. However, the situation didn’t improve and according to the updated forecast the wind gusts will get even stronger and the safety can no longer be guaranteed. Safety comes first, we had no other choice than to cancel.”
According to FIS rules, races cancelled during the World Cup opening event are not rescheduled, meaning there will now be one less giant slalom event for the men for the 2017-18 season.
The World Cup continues on November 11-12 in Levi, Finland with the men’s and women’s slalom.
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