Zagreb slalom definitively canceled after mock race

It was really about time it stopped. The day after the day initially scheduled, the men’s slalom in Zagreb only lasted a full hour, enough time to pass only 19 skiers, before the organizers decided to cancel the event. A decision that seemed inevitable even before the start of the race, due to a track not at all worthy of a World Cup and on which no skier, men or women, should have started this week. Despite all the goodwill of the organizers, who interrupted the race four times in an attempt to restore the track, the masquerade ended up coming to an end.

We could feel it coming since Tuesday, we suspected it since the day before and we knew it was going to end badly this morning. But nobody would have imagined the grotesque scenario which took place this Thursday in Zagreb during the men’s slalom. Even though the track is completely broken after only three runners… Sporting equity never existed but it was still a situation “which happens” in skiing. And seeing the Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag leading the first round ahead of the Swiss Ramon Zenhausern (+ 0”49) and Clément Noël (+ 0”58) would not have been scandalous. Quite the opposite of the rest of the program.

5 skiers in 50 minutes …

After only twenty minutes of racing and 14 bibs, the race was interrupted for the first time in an attempt to restore the track. But with “dead” snow, the task was impossible. The cancellation of the race was obvious to everyone, including the skiers who had already started, many showing their incomprehension about the holding of this slalom. However, the organizers persisted in working on the track, not hesitating to interrupt the race after Strasser had passed, but also after that of Jakobsen to try to allow Zubcic to start in good conditions. In vain.

For a long time, we wondered how long the organizers would continue this masquerade, which only had the official name of a slalom. No one seemed able to make the decision to stop the charges. In the end, we had to wait more than 50 additional minutes after bib 14 – during which only 5 skiers started! – so that the organizers do not resign themselves to canceling the race. A decision that should have been taken on Wednesday. This would have avoided this inglorious episode and somewhat favored the runners, who had to go in fourth gear in Adelboden, with a giant on Saturday.