25th February 2022
World Cup events are scheduled in ski cross and aerials, though some events have been called off. The The International Olympic Committee has condemned the actions of Russia and some have called for immediate sporting boycotts and some athletes will not be attending. NEW
Ski cross is set to take place on Friday 25th at Sunny Valley, near Chelyabinsk.
Three days of competition are planned.
An aerials competition is scheduled for Yaroslavl on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th.
A parallel snowboard World Cup in Moscow on Saturday had already been cancelled, along with a moguls competition in Kuzbass next weekend.
All events are run by the International Skiing Federation, FIS.
FIS has said it is “monitoring the escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and the safety of participants at their World Cup competitions in Russia this weekend.
Australian aerials skier, Danielle Scott, tweeted that she would be leaving Russia and not competing in Yaroslavl.
“Decision has been made to leave Russia and not compete in the final World Cups,” she said.
Decision has been made to leave Russia and not compete in the final World Cups. I can’t believe this is happening.. in the uniquely unifying power of sport, I wished so badly for this situation to be different.#RussiaUkraineConflict
— Danielle Scott (@DanielleSski) February 24, 2022
The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, welcomed her decision and called for further sporing boycotts.
“I commend those Australians that are saying they won’t participate in anything that is occurring in Russia this year,” he said.
“This is the way you impose a cost on Russia that is invading its neighbour.”
The IOC has said it “strongly condemns the breach of the Olympic Truce by the Russian government” and is concerned for the safety of the Olympic community in Ukraine.
The Olympic Truce began 7 days before the Beijing Winter Olympics opened on 4th February and ends 7 days after the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
The Paralympics are due to take place in Beijing from 4th to 13th March.
“Following recent events, the IOC is deeply concerned about the safety of the Olympic Community in Ukraine,” it said in a statement.
“It has established a task force to closely monitor the situation and to coordinate humanitarian assistance to members of the Olympic Community in Ukraine where possible.”
The IOC President, Thomas Bach, has reiterated his call for peace, which he made in his speeches at both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies in at the Beijing Games.
The resolution establishing the Olympic Truce was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 2nd December by consensus of all 193 UN Member States.
Beijing 2022. Image c/o IOC.
Other FIS World Cup snowsports events are also planned in Russia over the coming weeks and they remain under threat:
- The cross-country World Cup Finals in Tyumen, from March 18th to 20th.
- The last four editions of the women’s Ski Jumping World Cup March 19th and 27th, in Nizhny Tagil and Chaykovsky.
Snowsports figures have joined the condemnation of the Russia invasion of Ukraine including the GB ex-Olympian, Martin Bell.
Russians must not be permitted to participate in any cultural, artistic or sporting events – under any flag.
This will hurt the world economy in the short term.
But western countries’ leaders should remember Neville Chamberlain.— Martin Bell (@skimartinbell) February 24, 2022
UPDATE:
Alpine Canada has told CBC Sports that it is withdrawing its 15 athletes from the ski cross event in Russia.
It says it is now trying to fly them home.
The Canadian aerials team also didn’t go to Russia.
The cross-country team said it will not take part in the late-March event in Russia.
Here on PlanetSKI we will be monitoring and updating on how the crisis may impact on the world of snowsports.
PlanetSKI.uk
This article was originally published by Planetski.eu. Read the original article here.
