FIS MEDIA INFO: Ladies' super-G postponed to Tuesday, weather expected to improve

Åre, February 4, 2007/ -- The ladies' super-G at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Are (SWE) has been postponed to Tuesday, 6th February at 12:30 CET. Based on the conditions on the mountain, the jury took the unanimous decision before 8:00 CET.

“The Organizing Committee has done a tremendous job in the extremely difficult current conditions, including strong wind and snowfall, and mild temperatures,” said Atle Skaardal, FIS Chief Race Director for the ladies at this morning's press conference, and added: ”In fact, the conditions are relatively good up on the mountain due to the heroic efforts by the team but not sufficiently good to ensure fair and safe conditions for all racers, which is what we must offer at the FIS World Ski Championships.”

Due to the strong winds at the top, a lot of wind-blown snow has had to be removed from the race course. At the same time, the lower part of the course is very soft and wet which presents a safety risk in speed events. According to the current forecast, the Western wind is expected to subside as of this afternoon and colder and drier air will flow in from the East. The temperatures are predicted to fall to -15C by Tuesday.

“At this point, we have sufficient reserve days left given that these Championships are scheduled to run over three weekends so we must remain patient and wait for this extreme weather to improve as has been predicted. We all want to enjoy good races which we will see if we stay calm. The chances are very good that we will be able to run tomorrow's super-G for the men as planned,” Skaardal added.

Anders Sundquist, Are 2007 Sports Director, noted: “We have 7 machines and 350 staff working on each of the courses now – this is a team of heroes that has been working day and night for the past week. However, the work is well underway to prepare tomorrow's course and we are very positively attuned.”

“Obviously, two postponements are not an ideal start for the Championships but a great compliment goes to the organizers for keeping up the team's spirit. The postponement decision today was taken early enough in the morning to allow for the information to get to the day-guests before they began their journeys. The sports festival program here is also running very well and has been a great success so far with thousands of visitors joining the activities in the festival tent, well-protected from the elements. We at FIS are not concerned at this stage about having to cancel any individual events as we also have some reserve days on the schedule for next week. After having had limited snow in the early season, we much rather have too much snow to deal with!” commented Sarah Lewis, FIS Secretary General.

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