Para-Ski-Criticism of the FIS: The Alpine Para-Ski-WM “is a farce”

Justus Wolf had predicted the debacle at the Alpine Para Ski World Championships. »Snow security is a big problem. You somehow get enough snow for a slalom, but at the World Cup the speed disciplines are also in the program. And the goal of the flat departure is in Maribor at a height of 250 meters, «the national coach of the German team explained in December.

Now the GAU has occurred at the highlight of the season, which should actually start departure on Wednesday. Because the snow has largely melted away on the target slope, all speed disciplines for the alpine stars with disabilities were canceled-in addition to the departure, the Super-G and the combination. This makes six out of ten planned World Cup decisions for women and men. Only slalom and giant slalom should take place from Saturday to Tuesday. According to the weather forecast, the necessary part of the slopes could actually hold.

disrespect

“This is a farce, disrespectful towards the teams that also had high costs,” complains Justus Wolf. The disaster was predictable, even if the responsible para-Snovsport department from the Ski World Association FIS had claimed that everything can take place according to schedule. “There was not suddenly a meter of snow melted away, we could always look at the whole thing on the webcam,” said Wolf.

Like many responsible other nations, the German chief coach is pissed off on the FIS. “What’s the cheese? The attitude doesn’t suit me at all. There is no empathy towards the athletes and nations and sometimes the know-how, «says Wolf. In his opinion, the World Cup disaster from Maribor could have been avoided with more support from the Para-Snow Sports division: »The organizers must now pay for it. They have invested a lot of money and effort, and now it is time to: not have been much except expenses. “

Threats

Those responsible for the World Association saw this very differently at the team leader meeting on Wednesday and threatened critics like Wolf. But he no longer wants to be forbidden. Over the years, too much anger has accumulated in the para-alpine scene, not just with him. Wolf remembers, for example, a World Cup application with Garmisch for 2019, which was dismissed due to a place in Switzerland. A year later, the organizer canceled the title fights for financial reasons. Many of the people who were responsible for failures are still at the helm today. Nothing has changed from the fact that after the Winter Paralympics 2022, the snow sports experts from the International Paralympic Committee were integrated into the FIS as a para-snow sports department.

The World Cup calendar was also thinned out this winter, the competitions in the Slovenian Kranjska Gora were canceled, and the planned races in Bardonecchia, Italy, are also at risk. “Of course it is not easy to organize para events. Nobody tears around due to a lack of money. But the even bigger problem is that the topic of FIS has no relevance, «says Wolf. The four-time Paralympics winner Anna-Lena Forster, who now only has two gold chances in Maribor, agrees: »I also have the impression that the World Association could do more. It would be feasible if it were wanted. “

Shadow existence

However, the skiers in the para-area live a shadow existence, although the extraordinary achievements in disability sports are interested in many people. At the Winter Paralympics 2022, almost two million people were in front of the screens when it was transmitted, which will be the same in a year at the Paralympics in Milan and Cortina. Another comes from Wolf: “Between the Paralympics, it is extremely difficult for us.” Of course, this applies much more if the world championships end as a big highlight in such a farce.