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After heavy snowfalls and high temperatures wiped out
two-of-three men's World Cup races last week at the bucolic Lake
Louise resort in the Canadian Rockies, the first speed events on
the women's schedule were disrupted when training was cancelled.
Organisers will try to get in a training run on Thursday ahead
of a downhill doubleheader set for Friday and Saturday and a
super-G on Sunday.
But storm clouds of a different kind are looming on the horizon,
with the World Cup set to shift to Europe and races in
Switzerland, which has imposed new restrictions to check the
spread of the Omicron variant.
Those restrictions include a mandatory 10-day quarantine for
travellers from 19 countries, including Canada.
American Mikaela Shiffrin, who got her campaign off to flying
start by reaching the podium in all four races she has entered,
including a pair of wins, told Reuters that while skiers are
used to dealing with COVID-19 protocols the Omicron threat is
upping anxiety levels.
"A lot of things are still very much up in the air, including
Switzerland," Shiffrin told Reuters. "We definitely think about
it.
"We're trying to be ski racers and travel around the world in
our own little bubble, it's a high-pressure environment.
"The protocols are really important and it is the only way we
are going to have this World Cup season and be able to look
forward to the Olympics."
The next stop for the women's World Cup is St. Moritz with two
super-Gs on Dec. 11 and 12.
FIS, international skiing's governing body, is expected to seek
exemptions but Shiffrin cautioned that the unfolding situation
was something that had to be taken seriously.
"We look for exemptions and the ability to still get off our
World Cup races in specific areas with new regulations," said
Shiffrin. "It's very serious and needs to be respected by
everybody, including us."
While COVID-19 testing and prevention protocols are now part of
athletes' daily routines, Paul Kristofic, the head coach of the
U.S. women's team, said things were not getting any easier.
"It's complicated," Kristofic told Reuters.
"From a management perspective it is a lot of work. It's hard
and heavy on the people who have to manage those details --
making sure we have all our tests lined up, the right windows of
time for travel and FIS passports and getting into different
countries.
"We're constantly testing, we're constantly under very strict
protocols wherever we go.
"But the anxiety of missing races, missing qualifying races,
missing the Olympics because of potential positives, is super
stressful and still really high level of anxiety."
(Reporting by Steve Keating; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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