CALGARY — The International Ski and Snowboard Federation has removed a tentative men's downhill at Lake Louise, Alta., from next season's calendar, Alpine Canada confirmed Friday.
The governing body of skiing initially had the men competing Nov. 22-26 at the ski resort in Banff National Park, but with a "to be confirmed'' designation.
But Alpine Canada president and chief executive officer Therese Brisson said in a release Friday that time ran out to secure funding for the races.
"We’ve been working with various stakeholders since last season to try to find solutions and despite some progress, we have run out of time to confirm the funding early enough to execute the event for the upcoming 2023-24 season,” Brisson said.
She said Alpine Canada remains committed to a speed event in Western Canada.
"(We) will turn our attention to identifying solutions for the 2024-25 season and beyond," she said.
Lake Louise has been the traditional opener of the men's speed season, though it would have been the second stop in this campaign had it gone ahead.
Alpine Canada had already replaced the traditional women's downhills at Lake Louise the week after the men with a pair of women's World Cup giant slalom races Dec. 2-3 in Mont-Tremblant, Que. Those races are confirmed.
Canada's alpine ski team is coming off a banner season with James Crawford winning a men's super-G world title and Laurence St. Germain beating U.S. superstar Mikaela Shiffrin for the women's world slalom crown.
Cameron Alexander earned world championship bronze in men's downhill and Canada also won bronze in the mixed team parallel race.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2023.
The Canadian Press