Poor Conditions Forced Cancellation of Slalom and Super-G

	Skiers on Strike

The women's slalom of the World Cup finals in Sierra Nevada was cancelled before the start of the second run after skiers threatened to boycott the race due to dangerous course conditions. The race jury decided to cancel the race rather than postpone it, which meant the winner was determined by points gathered up to this race. Thus, Austria's Sabine Egger clinched the slalom World Cup title, edging out Pernilla Wiberg and Anja Paerson from Sweden.

Paerson was in the lead in front of Egger and Wiberg after the first run which took place in stormy weather. Strong guts of wind and heavy snowfall plagued the skiers in that run and all the competitors complained about the disastrous course condition.

Earlier in the morning, the race jury had already cancelled the women's super-G because the course could not be prepared in time for the race after stormy weather conditions during the previous night.

"You better cancel this race because we don't plan to compete in the second run..."— Pernilla Wiberg

"It was a joke, I had no chance to clock a good time with my startnumber 15," said the reigning World Champion Zali Steggall from Australia. "The slope was in very bad shape and it made no sense to race today. In fact, most of us planned to refuse to start in the first run but then we change our mind. But the conditions didn't get better and it would have been useless to race another time." Steggall clocked one of the slowest times in the first run when there were already big holes on the steep slope.

	Sabine Egger

"The women's tour is not in good shape, there are too many bad races and only a few people really care about improving our circuit," said Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg, one of the athlete leaders in the protest. The reigning combined champion didn't mind sacrificing her own chances to win another slalom World Cup title in the hopes that her determination can help women's ski racing to get back on track soon.

"Most of the races this season were too easy and not well prepared," added the Scandinavian who is also member of an international athletes commission of the International Ski Federation (FIS). "It's urgent to do something."

It was after she spoke with Kurt Hoch, the World Cup race director of the women's circuit, that the decision was made to call off the last slalom of the season. "You better cancel this race because we don't plan to compete in the second run," Wiberg told him.

After a few minutes, Hoch made an official annoucement about the cancellation. "The course conditions are too dangerous in the second run," he said. "The course would broke down after a few skiers and the other would take great risks. The weather has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours and made it very difficult for the course workers."

In an interview with a European TV station, Hoch admitted that it was useless to force the decision against the will of the skiers. "What can I do if they don't want to compete?" he said. Wiberg's younger teammate, Anja Paerson, basically agreed with Wiberg even if though she felt disappointed to lose her chance to win after skiing the fastest first run.

"It's hard for me but this will help us in future," said Paerson, the 17-year-young teenager from Tarnaby who has won a slalom earlier this season in Mammoth Mountain, California.

"I felt great today and I was ready to fight for another win," added Paerson, who won a gold medal this week at the junior World Championships in south of France.

Sabine Egger was also very impressed by Wiberg's courage. "She is really tough but I also showed that I was ready for that last fight," she said. "I would have enjoyed to win the Cup after a fair race but I want complain. I was pretty consistent throughout the winter. This success means a lot to me—in fact it's quite amazing when I think that I was not sure to be able to compete in October because of strong pains at my back."

Egger is the first Austrian to clinch the slalom Cup since the success of Elfi Eder in 1996. America's Kristina Koznick, 7th after the first run, totally agreed with the other protesters.

"Our circuit is far behind the men's tour," said the winner from Semmering. "We had to show our determination—it was just too much. We had only a few interesting races this winter. Most of the slalom hills were too flat or in bad shape."

The last women's race of the season should take place this Saturday with the giant slalom. Alexandra Meissnitzer, who won the super-G World Cup title, will fight for her second title for the 1999 season. This time her rival is veteran Anita Wachter, who won three GS races in the last three months. Among the other favorites are Norway's Andrine Flemmen, Sonja Nef from Switzerland and Spela Pretnar from Slovenia.

— Mountain Zone European Ski Correspondent