What some feared already became sad reality this morning. Snow Controller Rudi Tusch had to cancel the Nordic Combined World Cup events in Klingenthal which were set for the second and third of January 2016 due to lack of snow.

The uncharacteristically warm weather situation that has more or less the whole of middle-Europe in its grip gave the organisers no chance to produced the needed amount of snow to prepare the jumping hill and the cross-country track after all the snow on the Vogtlandarena jumping hill, which had hosted the World Cup opening of the ski jumpers in November, has melted.

OC President Alexander Ziron:" It's with a heavy heart that we have to cancel these competitions. Who knows us as an organisers knows that we would do everything to offer the Nordic Combined athletes the best conditions and the spectators amazing competitions. But the weather which is absolutely not White Christmas does not allow it."

Temperatures of up to 15°C have not only melted the snow on the Vogtlandarena that had been in place since the Ski Jumping World Cup in November but also soaked the areas in which the tracks were supposed to be built. In addition to that, no cold temperatures which are essential to producting snow are forecasted for the next days. Light snowfalls are only forecasted for the turn of the year which would not give the OC sufficient time to prepare the hill and track.

The German Ski Federation, the responsible host broadcaster ZDF and FIS Race Director Lasse Ottesen are in talks to see if and how the cancelled two competitions can be replaced but it seems certain that there will be no replacement possible on the first weekend of January.

Source: fis-ski.com