Controversial comeback in California Blizzard

skating. The return of the World Cup in Lake Tahoe. But a second trip to the United States this winter puts FIS chief Johan Eliasz in an inexplicable position.

Palisades Tahoe. It was controversial, but now is the time: The men’s World Cup’s second trip to North America this winter, set at the instigation of FIS president Johan Eliasch, will kick off technical races in the Tahoe Palisades (giant slalom on Saturday, slalom on Sunday) , every 7/10:15 p.m., one ORF lives). For only the second time in history, the men’s race will be held at a ski resort in California, after which it will be moved to Aspen, Colorado for the three sprints.

Just in time for the Alps’ arrival, the Sierra Nevada introduces itself as “Winter Wonderland.” For example, the arrival of Johannes Strolls was delayed by roadblocks due to large amounts of snow. Snow is also expected all weekend at the ski resort near Lake Tahoe, long known as Squaw Valley. In 1960 the Winter Olympic Games were held here. However, after protests by indigenous people in the area, the ski area’s operators decided to change the name in 2021. She said in a statement at the time that the old name was “offensive and offensive.”

The only men’s World Cup guest appearance in Palisades Tahoe dates back to 1969, when giant slalom winner Reinhard Tretscher of Styria. Women were often at work in California, and most recently, U.S. skiing star Mikaela Shifrin celebrated with two victories in March 2017. The majority of the ÖSV battalion set off for San Francisco on Wednesday and made their way north by car. Some service personnel, stewards and materials had already been sent to the United States in advance, while such racing director Marco Pfeiffer was only expected later.

The second trip to North America is controversial because the World Cup Circus was already guests in Lake Louise, Canada, and in Beaver Creek, Colorado, at the end of November and beginning of December. According to FIS President Johan Eliassch, the interest of local target groups at this early stage of winter is rather low, at the beginning of March a larger North American audience can be reached. Additional travel costs, which place a six-figure burden on the budgets of large associations such as ÖSV and Swiss Ski, and the resulting larger CO2 emissions are not an issue for Eliasch. “Environmentally speaking, the extra voyage across the Atlantic is not very significant compared to other items in our climate budget,” explained Al Suwaidi. (red.)

(“Die Presse,” print edition, February 25, 2023)