World Cup in cross country in Planica canceled due to covida, 22, 23 January
STA, 10 January 2022 – The Organizing Committee for the FIS Ski Running World Cup, which will take place on 22 and 23 January at the Nordic Center Planica in Slovenia, canceled the competition, citing a sharp rise in coronavirus infections in the country. . reason.
The venue in northwestern Slovenia is expected to host the classic sprint for men and women on 22 January and the 30 and 15 km skiathlon for women on 23 January.
The Planica organizing committee announced on Monday that the decision to cancel the events was made in cooperation with all partners, as the number of Covid-19 infections continues to rise sharply.
The decision was made, as the snow conditions in the Planica Center are ideal, and the venue and accompanying infrastructure are in the final preparations.
As the dates of the events are close to the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, some foreign teams have said their performance in Planica is questionable or have decided to register members of their B teams for the events.
The organizing committee took note of the “critical epidemiological situation in Slovenia and Europe” and the “strong increase in Covid-19 infections and forecasts of an additional increase in the coming days”.
They added that this made it even more difficult to provide a safe environment for competitors and staff and that, according to experts, it was not possible to provide sufficient protection at such a large event.
“The epidemiological situation is bad and we are trying to maintain the operation of critical infrastructure, so we do not recommend events that pose an additional risk,” said epidemiologist Irena Grmek Košnik, Covid-19 coordinator on the committee.