Double Downhill Cancellation for Alpine Men and Women
As rain poured down in Val Gardena, Italy, and wreaked havoc on the Saslong track, the organizers together with the jury decided to cancel Saturday's classic men's downhill race. Over in Val d'Isere, France, snow fell throughout the night, forcing organizers to cancel Saturday's women's downhill race.
Earlier in the morning, the decision in Val Gardena was that the men would start from the reserve start (super-G start). As rain continued to fall and conditions grew more and more questionable, the decision was made to cancel the race. In Val d'Isere, the forecast is calling for over one meter of snow Sunday, but the weather was supposed to be clear on Saturday for the women's downhill. With no indication the snow will slow down, as the forecast currently looks like 100% chance for snow throughout the night and into Tuesday.
"Obviously a big bummer," said Steven Nyman after getting word about the cancellation at the venue where he's won all three of his FIS Ski World Cup victories. "It's a place where the Americans have traditionally done well. Bryce is super bummed, but that's ski racing and I am looking forward to Bormio [Italy]. I'm not sure if it's official, but they're talking about making two downhills in Bormio. That's a track I know I can do well on, so we just have to look ahead. That's part of the sport."
Last year, the American men went 4-5-6 (Bryce Bennett, Steven and Travis Ganong) in the Val Gardena downhill, starting what would be a solid streak of consistency for Bryce, in particular. In Bormio on a vertical ice rink, Bryce threw down and ended up in fourth, matching his career best at the previous race in Val Gardena—just 15 one-hundredths off the podium.
The women's program has been confirmed for Sunday, with downhill replacing the alpine combined. With the way things are shaping up in Val d'Isere, current overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin's decision to forego the downhill and alpine combined in Val d'Isere is looking to have, once again, been a very wise move—reminiscent of the her decision last year to skip the speed series in Sochi, Russia, where all races were cancelled.
Up next, the men will head to Alta Badia, Italy for a giant slalom and parallel giant slalom, where all eyes will be on Beaver Creek, Colo. winner Tommy Ford. With Val d’Isere having been cancelled, the men are chomping at the bit to ski one of their favorite tracks on the tour: the Gran Risa in Alta Badia, Italy. Tommy scored a career-best (at the time) fifth in Alta Badia in 2018, leading four Americans into the points.
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HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
Sunday, Dec. 22
3:30 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Alta Badia, ITA - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
7:00 a.m. - Men’s giant slalom run 1, Alta Badia, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
Monday, Dec. 23
9:00 a.m. - Men’s parallel giant slalom qualifying, Alta Badia, ITA - Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
12:00 p.m - Men’s parallel giant slalom, Alta Badia, ITA - Olympic Channel, Olympic Channel.com, NBC Sports Gold
*Same-day broadcast
**Next-day broadcast
Note: All televised events to stream across NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app, OlympicChannel.com, and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA app
Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass, available here: https://www.nbcsports.com/gold/snow.
