World Cup Skiing : Tour Competitors Straggle Into Lake Tahoe, Looking for a Safe Course
World Cup ski racing is paying its annual March visit to North America and the trouble that has dogged the circuit since December is tagging right along.
Sunday at Aspen, Colo., about 50 of the world’s leading men skiers refused to race in a giant slalom, claiming that the course had been inadequately prepared. They formed a human blockade just below the starting gate and said, “Forget it.”
Today, those same racers are scheduled to compete in a slalom at Heavenly Valley. The course here, at a late hour Monday, seemed to be adequately prepared. The only problem might come from a series of snowstorms that have been moving through the Tahoe Basin since Friday.
Weather, of course, has been one of the main bugaboos all winter for the “White Circus” as it traveled from one European resort to another, first encountering a lack of snow, then too much snow. Races were postponed, then sometimes canceled, although it wasn’t until Aspen that the racers took matters into their own hands.
The problems actually began on Saturday, before the downhill. The technical delegate from the International Ski Federation (FIS), a Canadian, declared that the commercial logos on most of the racers’ helmets were bigger than the rules permitted. He, however, was overruled by Serge Lang, president of the World Cup Committee, a somewhat unprecedented occurrence.
They held the race, but afterward, the top three finishers--Swiss Peter Mueller and Austrians Peter Wirnsberger and Leonhard Stock--refused to wear their racing bibs for the obligatory victory-stand picture-taking. The bibs all carried the name of the race sponsor, Subaru. The racers said they were individually sponsored by other automakers.
Reportedly, the racers offered to put their bibs back on if Subaru would pay them each $5,000. No sale.
And again, Lang, who the night before was the recipient of the 1986 AT&T; award as skiing’s man of the year, again told the racers to ignore the Aspen organizers and pose without the bibs.
That brought everyone to Sunday and the giant slalom, after an overnight rainstorm softened the course to the point where it appeared obvious that the first few starters would have an advantage in coming down before the ruts formed.
Not so coincidentally, Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, the defending World Cup overall champion and leader in the 1985-86 standings with 282 points, drew No. 1.
Girardelli, of course, was not exactly one of the ringleaders of the “strike,” but the Swiss were. And not so coincidentally, their top racer, Pirmin Zurbriggen, is in hot pursuit of Girardelli for the title. Zurbriggen has 229 points.
The racers revolted after the race jury voted, 3-2, to proceed with the giant slalom, which began with two forerunners crashing in succession because of poor visibility.
Harald Schoenhaar, Alpine director of the U.S. ski team said: “It’s true, the course was not in shape to have a fair race, but I don’t like the way the racers went about getting it stopped.”
And this time, Lang deplored the racers’ actions, saying: “What happened is very bad for the World Cup image.”
In any event, the entire troupe managed to straggle in here Monday, via Denver and Reno, delayed along the way by generally stormy weather, and they’ll be up on the course at 9:30 this morning for the first of their two runs.
Barring a blizzard, conditions should be passable, at least, and there shouldn’t be any problems with the size of sponsor’s logos since the racers don’t wear helmets in the slalom.
Skiing Notes
The top five women in the World Cup standings are all Swiss, in order: Maria Walliser, Erika Hess, Vreni Schneider, Michela Figini, the defending champion, and Brigitte Oertli.