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World Cup 2021?

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James

James

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Well this blows. More failure of the US imo.
Honestly, it’s not that hard, but the testing infrastructure is not in place. Just terrible. Cheap rapid testing would allow lots of activities to go on. Meanwhile, we’re $11billion into support of vaccines.

You create a bubble of the skiers, coaches, staff etc, for say 3 weeks before they go over. Test every other day, maybe everyday. (Or get a mathmetician to figure it out) Make sure everyone is negative before leaving. Build in time so that quarantining people can still make it. If you maintain bubbles, it doesn’t matter the infection rate outside. The NBA is playing in the hot zone of Florida.

Yale just got approval for their test. It’s designed to get down into the below $2/test range. I guess now it’s at more like $10. You do need a lab, but these are all over. It’s 3 hours, but you can do 90 something at once.
As I understand, it’s an open license for others to use.

Just a depressing failure that none of this is in place after six months. There's only so much small companies, and Universities, can do.
 

AlpsSkidad

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Seems like some European countries act like its a big deal, yet don't even follow their own procedures. My recent example is France, they say they don't allow US nationals right now except under special circumstances. Even then, you must get a COVID PCR test within 72 hours of your flight departure. You also have to fill out the health certification etc.
I just flew to France on Saturday-arriving Sunday. I filled out my paperwork, I had the COVID test results etc in hand. I don't have a current Visa- it expired last November. So according to the French government, I had no way as a US passport holder, to enter. Nevertheless I had a personal reason I needed to go, so I risked it.
Nothing different leaving from the US airport from normal travel. Check in, get on plane. No questions about anything.
Upon arrival in France, I entered the immigration/passport control expecting to hand over health paperwork show test results, and having to plead my case to enter. Handed over my passport, Immigration stamped it, handed it back and that was it. No request for my COVID results, no health paperwork, no reason for your visit....it was like I was a normal tourist in years past.
My point is that while you can state there are all these controls and Visa issues etc, my first hand experience was that none of it is being enforced at the border so why does it all matter?
So for the world cup, their reason may be to control spread and health of their athletes, but the countries themselves are preaching something and not actually practicing what they preach so it all might be for nothing.
 

Swede

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Seems like some European countries act like its a big deal, yet don't even follow their own procedures. My recent example is France, they say they don't allow US nationals right now except under special circumstances. Even then, you must get a COVID PCR test within 72 hours of your flight departure. You also have to fill out the health certification etc.
I just flew to France on Saturday-arriving Sunday. I filled out my paperwork, I had the COVID test results etc in hand. I don't have a current Visa- it expired last November. So according to the French government, I had no way as a US passport holder, to enter. Nevertheless I had a personal reason I needed to go, so I risked it.
Nothing different leaving from the US airport from normal travel. Check in, get on plane. No questions about anything.
Upon arrival in France, I entered the immigration/passport control expecting to hand over health paperwork show test results, and having to plead my case to enter. Handed over my passport, Immigration stamped it, handed it back and that was it. No request for my COVID results, no health paperwork, no reason for your visit....it was like I was a normal tourist in years past.
My point is that while you can state there are all these controls and Visa issues etc, my first hand experience was that none of it is being enforced at the border so why does it all matter?
So for the world cup, their reason may be to control spread and health of their athletes, but the countries themselves are preaching something and not actually practicing what they preach so it all might be for nothing.

Sometimes you dodge a bullet. Don't know if your experience is representative, but the official EU policy right now is that travel (for tourism) into an EU country is limited to Schengen countries and some 15 other countries outside, and the US is not on that list. It is a reccomendation, but I'm not aware if there are any countries who has, at least officially, not adopted it. Then there's a clusterf**k of constantly changing quarantine rules when you travel inside the EU. When it comes to work etc, there are diffrent rules.
 

Jacques

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Thanos, owner and chemist from Dominator wax, told me the other day that he is going to Switzerland soon where several national teams will be. He will be further testing his new fluoro free wax lines (FFC & Elite), so it seems folks are going to race this coming season.
 

AlpsSkidad

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Sometimes you dodge a bullet. Don't know if your experience is representative, but the official EU policy right now is that travel (for tourism) into an EU country is limited to Schengen countries and some 15 other countries outside, and the US is not on that list. It is a reccomendation, but I'm not aware if there are any countries who has, at least officially, not adopted it. Then there's a clusterf**k of constantly changing quarantine rules when you travel inside the EU. When it comes to work etc, there are diffrent rules.

I agree that my experience may or may not be representative at all. It is absolutely does reflect the mess it is and that even when they have rules in place, they clearly don't follow their own policies. A lot of right hand not knowing what the last is doing.
hope the WC season goes well.
 

Primoz

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Just got info for Soelden races yesterday, and it looks I will have plenty of time for my own skiing and very little (if any) work this season. Number of accreditations will be massively reduced (I guess that's not an issue considering our status on FIS priority list), whole glacier will be closed during race weekend (Friday to Sunday) so no tourist skiers, no fans, with limited number of invited special guest, it also means no supporting program (no bib draw, no fan parades, no press conferences. Masks are obligatory everywhere, and contact with teams/athletes should be reduces to minimum. Everyone coming to Soelden with accreditation need to have negative test not more then 72h old, and there's no booking accommodation on your own. With all this, it means price of this will go sky high for me (based on current experiences with pricing of "official hotels", plus 100+eur for covid test every few days), so instead of making profit, I will be losing money. And for losing money, I rather use it proper way, with me buying ski ticket and skiing, and not standing on slope freezing :D
 

Primoz

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@ScotsSkier I don't really take it as tragedy. It is as it is, and as I said, good side of this is, I will be skiing more, so not everything is all that bad :D But it will be interesting to see how this will work out. Having NHL/NBA playoffs in one city and one hall is one thing, having skiing World cup over half of Europe, with still whole bunch of travel, with teams getting from races back home, then to training, then back to races.... well we will see. I certainly hope for best, and that season will go on, regardless of this if I will be there or not (skiing WC and everyone else can easily survive without me there), but with all this starting all over again, I'm not so sure it will be at least somehow normal season. No matter of what precautions they will take. At the moment, we are currently around highest March numbers of new cases per day, when lockdown started, and all other countries around here are somewhere in same shit. Currently noone is talking about lockdown anymore, but it's still long way to winter, and I don't see it will get any better, but will probably get worse.
 

hbear

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F1 has their traveling circus. However “slightly” bigger budgets behind their logistics.

Will be an interesting season from the WC down to the local kids on the mountain.
 

bbbradley

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I've done hundreds(?) of int'l trips for work over the years, sometimes passport control is a cake walk, other times it is an inquisition. Those security procedures are not applied universally to every traveler, if they were, the lines would be hours long. The fact that you *might* get screened aggressively is enough of a deterrent for most. If you travel long enough you'll get the extra screening eventually.



I just flew to France on Saturday-arriving Sunday. I filled out my paperwork, I had the COVID test results etc in hand. I don't have a current Visa- it expired last November. So according to the French government, I had no way as a US passport holder, to enter. Nevertheless I had a personal reason I needed to go, so I risked it.
Nothing different leaving from the US airport from normal travel. Check in, get on plane. No questions about anything.
Upon arrival in France, I entered the immigration/passport control expecting to hand over health paperwork show test results, and having to plead my case to enter. Handed over my passport, Immigration stamped it, handed it back and that was it. No request for my COVID results, no health paperwork, no reason for your visit....it was like I was a normal tourist in years past.
My point is that while you can state there are all these controls and Visa issues etc, my first hand experience was that none of it is being enforced at the border so why does it all matter?
So for the world cup, their reason may be to control spread and health of their athletes, but the countries themselves are preaching something and not actually practicing what they preach so it all might be for nothing.
 

4ster

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20\21 schedule...
59FAEF40-0962-4D75-88C4-0AB8AB1CCA12.jpeg
B714973E-982B-4801-971F-2D8BE825BD72.jpeg
 
Thread Starter
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James

James

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Shouldn’t we do a Men, Women thread again?

For the women, Vail Daily had a look at the venues and Mikaela-

  • Shiffrin has won at every site hosting a World Cup giant slalom or slalom this season, except for Lech/Zurs, which has not hosted the circuit since December 1994. Shiffrin was born March 13, 1995.
 

Muleski

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Shouldn’t we do a Men, Women thread again?

Might as well. This could be a very unusual, and "different" season. It's been a strange summer and fall of odd or non existent training blocks, and we just do not know what to expect with respect to COVID as we enter fall, and winter in North America and Europe. Those in the game feel that a lot is up in the air. I know athletes, coaches and such who are not that excited about this year.

And domestically, in North America? Right now there is NO NorAm racing planned. Perhaps in late February and March? It may turn out to be a season of race training, as possible and not a lot of racing. Which might not be all that bad for many age groups.

But sure, threads make sense.

Men's fairly recent news? American Tommy BZ retires. Says he might come back. I'll call that one chance in 100. He's had a tough, injury filled career. Such an incredible talent as a teen. Was dropped form the team this spring after something like 14 years?
 

4ster

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Shouldn’t we do a Men, Women thread again?

 

Moose32

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Kjetil Jansrud says 21-22 season will likely be his last
Not surprising given his age, results, and new home situation (married, kid). Likely a few more we could add to this list as probable.

 

4ster

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Without thinking much I will say Gut-Behrami on the women’s side & maybe Worley. Neither are too old but both have been around & at the top for a long time.
Hope I’m wrong.
 
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