Markus Waldner
The Ski World Cup starts in 71 days with the traditional Sölden competitions. FIS race director Markus Waldner has a gloomy forecast.
The 2020/21 Corona season presented the entire ski circus with a huge challenge, but the upcoming World Cup will also be anything but “normal”.
“You can see everywhere that the numbers are rising again, so there will be infections. We have to live with that. I think it will be even more complicated than last winter,” warns race director Markus Waldner at the courier.
The FIS official goes on to explain: “Last winter we were alone everywhere. During the races, the resorts only opened the lifts and hotels for us. At least with the exception of Switzerland, where we had problems.”
The Ski World Cup is facing a “new” old challenge: “This year we will have to live together with tourism because there will be no more lockdown. Fortunately, because we could not survive two winters like this.”
So it won't work entirely without spectators: “I believe that these ghost races are history. This year we are again planning a limited number of visitors for most of the events. Of course, Kitzbühel will not be 40,000 as it used to be, but up to 10,000 I can imagine visitors with all the measures. The VIP packages are also important, the organizers have to offer the sponsors something, otherwise we will run out of money. “
