Fog cancels final GS in Switzerland

By USSA

ADELBODEN, Switzerland — Heavy fog creeping lower and lower down the fabled giant slalom course in Adelboden forced cancellation of the event Saturday in what was to be the final GS in the Olympic selection period. After a weather delayed first run on a shortened course, Italian Davide Simoncelli was in the lead with American Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) fifth. There was no immediate word if the race would be made up.

After a delay of over an hour, the start was lowered for the first run. But for the final round, fog continued to creep down the mountain all the way to the finish area, where over 30,000 fans had congregated for one of the Audi FIS World Cup’s classic events. The race was halted after 58 of 66 starters. After a two hour delay, FIS Race Director Guenther Hujara made the call to cancel the race.

Ligety had been the only American to make the second run cut. In the first run, Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) whacked a gate with his right shoulder, spun around and went out. Jake Zamansky (Aspen, CO), Tommy Ford (Bend, OR) and Warner Nickerson (Gilford, NH) all missed the top-30 cut.

It was the last chance for racers to get a strong giant slalom finish before the end of Olympic Selection on Jan. 24.