Igls World Cup Skeleton cancelled

This week's World Cup skeleton action in Igls has been cancelled.

The second World Cup competition of the new season was due to take place at the newly renovated track in Austria on Friday but the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation have today announced that it will no longer go ahead.

An alternative date and venue will be announced in due course.

Saturday and Sunday's bobsleigh action, in which Great Britain has crews competing in the monobob, women's, 2-man and 4-man races, is still scheduled to go ahead. 

The next instalment of World Cup skeleton competition is due to take place in Lillehammer, Norway on Friday, December 12th.

The full statement from the IBSF reads as follows: 

"The IBSF Executive Committee has today followed the request of the majority of Skeleton World Cup athletes and cancelled the Skeleton World Cup in Innsbruck (Austria), which had been scheduled for Friday.

"The cancellation was prompted by a meeting of the athletes, led by IBSF Athlete Representative Elisabeth Vathje, held earlier today (Tuesday). During this meeting, a majority of athletes (30:21) voted in favour of cancelling the race. The key reason was inadequate track preparation over the past weekend, which led to the cancellation of the first official Skeleton training session on Monday. An additional track crew was brought in on Monday to support the local team in preparing the Olympia Eiskanal.

"However, the training now scheduled for Wednesday - limited to four runs - was deemed insufficient to complete the necessary number of descents on a track that has been partially rebuilt.

"Based on the arguments presented by Athlete Representative Elisabeth Vathje, the IBSF Executive Committee decided to cancel Friday’s Skeleton World Cup competitions.

"The Skeleton World Cup races originally planned in Innsbruck (Women’s Skeleton, Men’s Skeleton, and the Mixed Team Event) will be held at an alternative venue. The IBSF will provide further information on this in the coming days.

"The Skeleton Europa Cup scheduled for January will go ahead as planned."