Alpine Skiing World Cup season-opener may move from Austria’s Sölden to Levi in Lapland

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The FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup may not kick off until in the middle of November in the resort of Levi in Finnish Lapland, just like three years ago.
      The traditional season-opener in Sölden, Austria is in danger of being cancelled because of lack of snow.
      The recent unseasonably mild weather in Central Europe has prevented the competition organisers from using snow cannons to produce any artificial snow, even at the Rettenbach glacier at an altitude of nearly 3,000 metres above sea level.
      The Sölden giant slalom races are scheduled to take place in just over two weeks’ time.
     
In October 2006, the Sölden opening weekend was also cancelled through lack of snow.
      As an alternative location could not be found, the World Cup was put on hold until two weeks later with a slalom event in Levi.
      Finnish Alpine skier Kalle Palander hopes that the Sölden race will take place. Head coach Christian Leitner, on the other hand, would not mind seeing the World Cup opening being postponed.
      “It would be a good solution from Marcus’s point of view”, says Leitner, referring to another Finnish skier Marcus Sandell, who injured himself seriously in a training fall a week and a half ago.
      Palander, in turn, has had a minor setback with his shin, in which a persistent stress fracture caused him to miss the entire season last year.
      Palander subsequently underwent surgery, in which a 30-centimetre titanium rod was inserted in his lower leg to support the tibia.
      In recent training sessions, however, Palander has again started feeling pain in the area of the old injury when skiing at racing speeds.
      “But I am not worried. It’s all about just living with this pain”, says the 1999 Slalom World Champion.
     
Marcus Sandell is still in hospital in Innsbruck. He had a very unpleasant fall in Pitztal in Austria in late September, and as a result he had to have one of his kidneys removed.
      According to Leitner it is possible that Sandell could get back on skis in four to five weeks, but his return to competition would take rather longer.  


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Levi ready for FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup - but where is the snow? (30.10.2007)
  Kalle Palander could miss World Cup season with recurrence of old injury (17.10.2008)
  Vonn and Grange take top honours at Levi (18.11.2008)

See also:
  Levi World Cup slalom races cancelled: millions in losses anticipated for local entrepreneurs (5.11.2007)

Links:
  FIS pages
  Levi

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