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FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals In Italy Cancelled


As the Novel Coronavirus continues to appear in countries around the world, including a concentration of cases in the Veneto province in Northern Italy that have led to travel restrictions, the FIS Council, the Italian Winter Sports Federation, and its Cortina 2020 Organising Committee have been forced to cancel this season's FIS Alpine Ski World Cup finals, which were scheduled to take place in Cortina, Italy later this month.

With the health and welfare of the athletes, their staff, event crews, and other participants, as well as that of the public and spectators, being a chief consideration, the FIS decided during an emergency conference call that it was in everyone's best interest to cancel the event. During this call, the latest information and recommendations from the Italian, International, and National Health Authorities of participating nations were brought to the table. This included the travel restrictions that have been imposed by several National Authorities, which could have limited participation in the event.

“This was an extremely difficult decision for us to make, but ultimately welfare and health of the athletes, teams, and everyone associated with the World Cup as well as the general public must be our top priority,” said FIS President Gian Franco Kasper. “This is certainly not the way we wanted the season to end without World Cup Finals, but we must respect this very serious situation. We look forward to recognizing the winning athletes at a later date when we can properly celebrate their accomplishments.”

The Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in 2020 were also going to be used, in part, as a test event for next season's FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Kasper added, “It is also disappointing that the Finals in Cortina cannot take place to showcase the outstanding upgraded venue and both the women’s and men’s courses in action. Despite this setback, the preparations of the Italian Winter Sports Federation and the Local Organising Committee together with our broadcast and marketing partner Infront, are fully on-track for what we are convinced will be exceptional FIS World Championships next year.”

Due to a lack of venues that can handle this size event on such short notice that also has no travel restrictions due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the finals will not be replaced. Overall and discipline titles will be confirmed after the last scheduled races, which will be on March 15th with the women's race in Are, Sweden and the men's race at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. A formal awards ceremony for the athletes will be announced at a later date.

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