St. Moritz training run canceled due to excessive snowfall

St. Moritz this morning (GEPA/Harald Steiner)

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland – A heavy snowfall started on Thursday afternoon, forcing the cancellation of the second and final scheduled downhill training run in St.Moritz Friday (Jan. 31).

Early this morning, representatives from the organizing committee went on the hill to check the situation. Before 6:00 A.M., the Jury made the only reasonable call.

“Due to last night’s heavy snowfall and today’s forecast, today’s second men’s DH training run in St. Moritz has been canceled,” the morning message said.

This comes as no surprise as over 50cm (19.6 inches) of snow covered the 2.5km long and 60m wide downhill track. To put this amount in prospective, the square footage to be cleared from the track equals approximately 28 soccer fields covered evenly with a half meter of snow.

In order to provide the best possible conditions for Saturday’s race, today will be dedicated to clearing the hill of the fresh snow, a task which will require up to eight hours of grooming machine work.

With no additional snowfall foreseen in the next 24 hours, race organizers are optimistic for a smooth race tomorrow. Start time is set for 11:45 A.M. local time.

Release courtesy of FIS