Parallel Snowboard World Cup - Cancelled

Today I've been watching winter sports again, the parallel snowboard world cup that took place in Carezza, in the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy.

I was looking forward to this event as it's an interesting one, you get to see some very good performances from the cream of the snowboard world. Only the best get to participate at the world cup.

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The slope was divided in two, one slope for each contestant. At the first it was ok but very soon one of the snowboarders on the red slope fell. He not only fell but he was flying in the air, basically he did a 360 degree circle in the air and then fell on his stomach and slid some more what can only be described as a massive wipe out. Good thing the guy was ok, he knew how to fell and could get up right after but the race was finished for him.

Then the next rider on the red slope had some trouble again, he could hardly keep his balance. Then the nest snowboarder on the red slope fell too. And so it went on, most of the riders on the red slope fell. The race was stopped two times to redo the snow and repair the damages but that was an impossible task.

It was painful to watch so many riders fell on the red slope. I know in some sports where athletes are competing one after another they choose not to watch the ones competing first in order to avoid stress. This is the case in figure skating, where skaters are waiting in a room where they can't see who did what.

Here however the situation is different, this is an open space, you can't escape looking at what's happening or at least hearing about it, especially when the race is topped for minutes more than one time. Now imagine yourself competing on the red side of the slope when you know a bunch of people fell already, and only on the red slope, the blue one was fine, no one had any problems. It must have been nerve wracking for them. Knowing you're the next victim and your chance to win are slim to none, must be hard.

Everyone knew and see this is not right, not fair but organizers did nothing. The commentator said trainers have decided unanimously to protest and then organizers had no other choice then to cancel the race.

Carezza is in the Alps, it must be cold and snowy but the thing is, the temperature today was way above zero that let to melting in some places. There were holes on the slope that made riders fly at times. They tried to cover it up but without success. Good thing no one got hurt as these athletes know how to fall but sometimes you can control it and you get hurt.

The competition will take place next year in Lackenhof, Austria, between January 5-6, so snowboarders instead of having Christmas and New Year parties, they will have to train and stay in shape.