The weather has messed up the early season of the Alpine Skiing World Cup. The Women’s World Cup can only start with Levi’s slalom. Kalle Palander marvels at the competition calendar and insists that the Finns can no longer explain.
will show the Levi World Cup live on its channels on Saturday 19.11 and 20.11. Detailed shipping information at the end of this story.
The first season of the Alpine Skiing World Cup has been a farce. Only one race out of the eight planned has been able to be counted in the early season. Seven races have been canceled when the weather has messed up the plans.
Only one men’s giant slalom competition in Sölden has been counted.
Next weekend, the Women’s World Cup will start with the slalom competitions in Levi. In Levi, the competition slope of the World Cup was opened at the beginning of November.
Sports expert Kalle Palander criticizes the international skiing federation FIS’s decision-makers regarding the competition calendar.
Palander considered the idea that the glacier in Zermatt-Cervinia, on the border between Switzerland and Italy, would have been contested in speed sports from the very beginning of the season as overly optimistic and hopeless. Races were canceled due to lack of snow.
– Putting speed sports in that spot was stupid. It didn’t make any sense, says Palander.
Of course, Palander understands that in winter sports there is pressure to start the season on time. According to the 1999 slalom world champion, it has been discussed within alpine skiing for 30 years why the season should start so early.
– Of course, money and market reasons affect it. If we athletes were asked, the season would rather be extended for a month in the spring. After all, the weather is great in spring. Rocky slopes, sweet sunshine, plenty of snow everywhere and so on, says Palander.
However, Palander also reminds us of another flaw in the calendar. The men’s slalom season doesn’t start until December 11 in Val d’Isere, France. According to Palanderi, it would have been better to invest technical sports in the early season rather than speed sports.
However, slaloming can be fully practiced even in weaker conditions, for example on smaller glaciers.
– It’s absolutely incredible that the men’s slalom is not being contested in November. The conditions for that would now be good, says Palander.
Levi in the big spotlight – according to Palander, there’s no way to explain it now
However, for Levi and Finland, the problems are, on the other hand, a good thing. When the Women’s World Cup starts in Levi this weekend, Finland will be in quite a big spotlight internationally.
The World Cup has been organized in Levi since 2008. Only three times has the competition had to be canceled due to snow. Sometimes there have also been problems due to the wind.
However, Levi is not about to run out of snow like its colleagues in Central Europe, because the competition director Petri Tuomikoski according to the organizers, there is a huge reserve.
According to Palanderi, the problems of others are now falling on Finns.
– There is no doubt that Levi has gained a foothold in the calendar. Levi has been by far the most reliable competition venue in the World Cup calendar in recent years. Since the arrival of the reservoir snow, there have not been any cancellations at Levi, and in fact there probably won’t be any, says Palander.
Levi has also gained popularity even before the season. As many as 16 national teams from different countries have been training since the beginning of November in excellent conditions at Levi. Including the superstars of the sport Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova.
Palander, however, reminds us of the other side of the matter.
– Finns should also take advantage of this situation. After all, this is an advantage for us. In few countries do junior calculators get to train in such conditions. You can’t even go behind the fact that there wouldn’t be training conditions and that’s why there wouldn’t be alpine skiers in Finland. We currently have by far the best conditions in the world, Palander states.
In recent years, the Finns have glimpsed Levi in the World Cup in their home race. Riikka Honkanen and Rosa Pohjolainen counted last year’s World Cup points. Two years ago, Pohjolainen made a stir with his hard moves in the home race.
Palander hopes that Finns’ points standings will be seen once again in the home competition. Now Pohjolainen is on the sidelines due to injury. The expert’s eyes turn to Riikka Honkase. The other representatives of Finland are Erika Pykäläinen, Riga Pollari and Charlotte Henriksson
– I have heard rumors that Riikka Honkanen would be in pretty bad shape. I expect him to stretch already on Saturday. It would be great if others could get close to the top 30, says Palander.
‘s sports broadcasts on the weekend:
Fri 18.11.
at 16:55 Areena, Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships (TV2 at 23:15).
Sat 19.11.
at 10:45 a.m. TV2 Sports studio
at 10.55 TV2 Alpine skiing: Women’s mc slalom, Levi 1st round
at 11:40 Areena Freestyle: Mc, slopestyle, Stubai
at 12.05 TV2 Skiing: Finnish cup, M/N sprints (p)
at 1:50 PM TV2 Sports Studio
at 1:55 PM TV2 Alpine skiing: Women’s mc slalom, Levi 2nd round
at 14:55 Areena Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships
at 15:00 TV2 Sports Studio
at 15:30 TV2 Freestyle: Mc, slopestyle, Stubai
at 16:30 TV2 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships
Sun 20.11.
at 09:58 TV2 Skiing: Finnish cup, women’s 10 km (v)
at 11:05 a.m. TV2 Sports studio
at 11:10 a.m. TV2 Alpine skiing: Women’s mc slalom, Levi 1st round
at 12:25 TV2 Skiing: Finnish cup, men’s 15 km (v)
at 14:05 TV2 Sports studio
at 14:10 TV2 Alpine skiing: Women’s mc slalom, Levi 2nd round
at 15:15 TV2 Sports studio
at 15:45 TV2 World Cup football: The 2018 World Cup final
at 16:20 TV2 World Cup football: Studio
at 16:45 TV2 World Cup football: opening ceremony in Qatar
at 17:50 TV2 World Cup football: Qatar–Ecuador