Heavy snow in Germany forces World Cup race to be cancelled

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – Heavy snow in Germany has forced organizers to cancel the last World Cup skiing race before the world championships.

Organizers on Sunday called off a men’s giant slalom at Garmisch-Partenkirchen a day after they also had to cancel a downhill for the same reason.

Course workers started at 4 a.m. but failed to clear up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) of fresh snow from the Kandahar course because it kept snowing during the morning.

FIS race director Markus Waldner said efforts had to be stopped as “we started to damage the race line with the machines.”

Skiing’s governing body was looking to reschedule both races after the Feb. 5-17 world championships, which begin Tuesday in Are, Sweden.