World Cup Events Off To Protect Olympic Athletes From Virus
Jan 10, 2022, 10:08 AM
OBERHOF, GERMANY - JANUARY 09: Elvira Oeberg of Sweden competes during the Pursuit Women at the IBU World Cup Biathlon Oberhof at on January 09, 2022 in Oberhof, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
(Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
OBERHOFEN, Switzerland (AP) — The last scheduled World Cup meeting in cross-country skiing before the Beijing Olympics has been canceled.
The reason given was to protect athletes from the risk of COVID-19 infection in Slovenia. Planica was to host events from Jan. 21-23 in cross-country skiing and Nordic combined for men and women.
💥 BREAKING:
The FIS Cross-Country World Cup events in Planica 🇸🇮 had to be cancelled 😥ℹ Read more on https://t.co/0SpnWzDnlx#fiscrosscountry pic.twitter.com/fjivYErmk3
— FIS Cross-Country (@FISCrossCountry) January 10, 2022
The International Ski Federation says “the safety of stakeholders involved at those large-scale events could not be guaranteed” during the current acute state of the pandemic in Slovenia.
Any athlete testing positive for COVID-19 so close to the Winter Games that open on Feb. 4 risks being denied entry to China.
