(Reuters) – The Alpine skiing World Cup finals in Cortina d’Ampezzo have been canceled amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Italian winter sports federation (FISI) said on Friday.
“It’s with great regret that I took this decision,” said FISI president Flavio Roda after every nation but Italy voted against holding the March 18-22 finals at an International Skiing Federation (FIS) emergency meeting.
“But every member of the council motivated their decision to cancel the finals.”
The men’s season will be concluded by speed events this weekend in Kvitfjell, Norway, and technical events the following weekend in Krajska Gora, Slovenia.
France’s Alexis Pinturault is the overall leader.
The women’s season will end on the March 12-14 weekend with technical events in Are, Sweden.
Italy’s Federica Brignone is the overall leader.
The FISI was hoping to hold the event without fans to abide by an Italian government decree.
Italy is Europe’s worst hit country by the coronavirus outbreak, with over 4,600 cases and more than 197 deaths.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
