In terms of weather, the World Cup stop in the French Alps hasn’t always had a good star in recent years.
Legend:
Does this look like Saturday too?
A lack of snow shouldn’t be the problem in Val d’Isere this year.
Keystone
Sliders are used to being canceled or postponed. When the World Cup entourage visited Lake Louise recently and a week later in Beaver Creek, three races fell victim to the weather. This is something unusual in the speed range. Wind, fog, and too much snow – all factors that make safe and fair racing impossible.
Technical races are less sensitive to the weather, although the organizers of the World Cup in Val d’Isere see it a little differently. In the past 10 years, half of the racing weekends in the French Alps have gone as planned on the calendar.
New snow is expected
Last year, the two scheduled giant slalom races were moved to Santa Caterina early due to a lack of snow. In 2019, it was only possible to drive the slalom due to strong winds, in the year before only the Giant Slalom. In 2014 and 2011 the entire World Cup weekend was also canceled or moved to a different location due to not enough snow in Val d’Isere.
Regulators shouldn’t have this problem this time. Until Saturday, in some cases continuous snow is expected in the French Alps.
From a Swiss point of view, Marco Odermatt should be especially hot in Saturday’s giant slalom. The man from Nidwalden, who announced his ambitions with his pre-season victory in Sölden, has only a correct result in Val d’Isère after the failed giant slalom the past two years (7th place 2018).
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