LAGHI CIME BIANCHE, Italy — Racing finally began Wednesday on a new downhill ski course that starts in Switzerland and finishes in Italy, a year after World Cup races were canceled there because of a lack of early-season snow.
The first training run was completed under sunny blue skies ahead of Saturday’s inaugural men’s World Cup downhill on the Gran Becca track, which has starts near the iconic Matterhorn peak but has become a sore point for environmental activists. It was supposed to be inaugurated last year but two race weekends had to be canceled because of a lack fo snow. And last month, regional public authorities opened an investigation into organizers excavating snow from a nearby glacier to help prepare this week’s races - which drew criticism from Greenpeace.
Natural snow has since blanketed the race area around the storied Swiss resort Zermatt ahead of back-to-back World Cup weekends. They are scheduled two weeks later than last year to adapt to the effect of climate change on winter sports.
The 2.3-mile Gran Becca starts near Zermatt at an altitude of about 12,100 feet and finishes across the Italian border in Laghi Cime Bianche at 9,300 feet.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation hopes the event can boost Alpine ski racing and tourism earlier in the winter and extend the season.
The downhill course is one of the longest on the circuit and took more than 2 minutes, 5 seconds to complete Wednesday as the racers got a first serious look at the hill.
Under clear, sunny skies and temperatures of 19 F, Otmar Streidinger of Austria posted the fastest time of the 82 racers. They included defending World Cup overall champion Marco Odermatt of Switzerland.
The fastest speed of nearly 80 mph was posted by Finnish skier Elian Lehto.
More training runs are planned Thursday and Friday before two World Cup races this weekend. Women’s downhill races are scheduled for Nov. 18 and 19.
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