“Due to the high incidence of this happening in Flachau, the state of Salzburg has spoken out against its implementation. The Austrian Ski Association takes this recommendation seriously and has therefore decided to postpone the race,” the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV) announced on Thursday that the race in Flachau has been cancelled. In close coordination with the International Ski Federation (FIS), Planai has now been selected as an alternative site for the Hermann Mayer slope.
We had very intense discussions that started yesterday afternoon and into today. The decision has now been made. We’ll be riding the Flachau slalom in Schladming. I’d like to thank the Flachauers, well, the whole team, the volunteers, we’ve been so full of anticipation for the nightly slalom, which is really an important event. Unfortunately, the numbers are too high, and now we are moving to Schladming,” said ÖSV President, Roswitha Stadeloper of ORF.
The zigzag has been moved to Schladming
The location of the Ski World Cup Salzburg Flachau is particularly affected by the Omikron wave. With the number of injuries so high, the women’s night slalom race scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled and it has moved to Schladming.
The women from Salzburg were confident that the women’s race would be in no way inferior to the traditional men’s “night race”, which this year is scheduled for January 25. “I hope everything goes well and we have a beautiful women’s slalom in Schladming,” said Stadlooper, who also referred to Planai’s “Nightrace” as “the mother of night slalom.”
First CoV postponement of the season
A year ago, on January 12, 2021, American Michaela Shiffrin defeated Katharina Linsberger in Flachau. The fact that a year later the scene was shaken by the high number of novel coronavirus infections in Flachau was announced. In the tourist resort of Salzburg, the 7-day infection rate on Wednesday morning was 7,627 – even if Mayor Thomas Oberretter wanted to quell the argument that 15,000-16,000 people with guests and staff are currently in the city of 3,000.
Flachau is just one of many winter sports resorts such as Kitzbühel, where Hahnenkamm races are on the program in January, as the coronavirus has recently spread rapidly. At least Flachau, even if it looks like ÖSV still has an alternative location in the drawer, is the first cancellation or postponement of this Olympic winter due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The cancellation of the Flachau night slalom remains the only change for the upcoming winter sports events in Salzburg. “Other World Cup events to be held in Salzburg next week (the Ski World Cup Audi Zuschensee January 13-16 and FIS Snowboard World Cup Bad Gastein January 11-12) will not be affected and we believe this was planned with the concept of Covid-19 prevention which has been tried and tested for the Austrian Ski Association,” said ÖSV.