The historic men’s Audi FIS World Cup downhill in Zermatt-Cervinia was cancelled on Sunday due to heavy snowfall that began early in the morning, strong winds and an unfavourable forecast throughout the day.

It completed a weekend of challenging weather conditions, which also forced the cancellations of Saturday’s planned season-opening downhill on the newly designed course, the first World Cup track to cross an international border.

The race jury along with the Zermatt-Cervinia Organizing Committee made the decision early on Sunday morning, to ensure the safety of everyone.

“The snowfall started at 4 o’clock in the morning – our colleagues, the race directors and chief of course were on the track from 3am onward,” said FIS Chief Race Director Markus Waldner. “The track was pretty clean, but then the heavy snowfall started exactly according to what was expected in the forecast.”

Course crews had been working hard to prepare the ‘Gran Becca’ track for racing, but substantial winds gusts on the mountain also forced the decision.

“There are strong winds on the Klein Matterhorn, we heard it’s 130 kmph, so impossible to go up today,” Waldner added. “Also, poor visibility, so unfortunately, it was easy to make this early morning decision.”Any potential plans to contest a men’s race on Monday were also ruled out.