Alpine Skiing World Cup 2023/2024: Season-opening women's downhill race cancelled due to weather
The cancellation on Saturday (18 November) follows a week after two men's races on the same course were called off due to heavy snow and strong winds. Downhill season start for Olympic champion Sofia Goggia put on ice.
Alpine Skiing
The season-opening women’s FIS Ski World Cup downhill race in Zermatt-Cervinia, Italy was cancelled on account of strong winds on Saturday (18 November).
The cancellation of the alpine skiing cross-border event – which starts in Switzerland near the iconic Matterhorn peak and finishes in Italy – follows a week after the two scheduled men’s races on the same course were called off because of heavy snowfall and wind.
Organisers posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the first of two women’s races over the weekend was cancelled “due to the strong wind and the unfavourable forecast for the day”.
The programme was initially delayed before the International Ski and Snowboard Federation called off the race an hour before the rescheduled start.
The race would have featured Italian downhill queen Sofia Goggia, who starts the season in a bid to claim her fourth consecutive downhill crystal globe and fifth of her career, and reigning Olympic champion Corinne Suter.
American legend Mikaela Shiffrin, who holds the early season lead in the overall standings following a slalom victory in Levi, Finland last weekend, opted not to compete in the season-opening speed race.