BORMIO, Italy (AFP) - The prospect of another two World Cup crystal globes being awarded without a ski hitting the Stelvio slope is becoming an increasing possibility ahead of Thursday's finals.
Amid fears for athletes' safety, both the final men's and women's downhills were cancelled Wednesday due to rising temperatures which have left the bottom of the famed Stelvio run slushy, and therefore unskiable.
Unless the Italian alpine resort gets a few degrees colder overnight, the super-G crystal globes could be handed to the current respective leaders of the speed disciplines, Swiss Didier Cuche and Germany's Maria Riesch.
After a team captains' meeting Wednesday it was decided the men and women would race the same super-G course on the Stelvio, which has yet to feature a race after two days of the five-day finals.
The general feeling is optimistic, but all will depend on whether temperatures drop overnight, thus allowing the snow to harden.
The chief of the French women's team, Jean-Philippe Vuillet, explained: "There are two different kinds of snow on the Stelvio, one on top of the other, and that's why it's so complicated."
International Ski Federation (FIS) chief Gianfranco Kasper told AFP earlier he was optimistic, but only cautiously.
"Our race directors are quite optimistic they (races) will be held - if the temperatures come down a little bit tonight."
Cuche won the downhill title Tuesday after the cancellation of the men's final downhill, and currently has an 89-point lead on Austrian Christoph Gruber in the super-G race.
Riesch, the winner of the women's super-combined last week, will however be hoping the super-G is held.
She has a 53 and 73 point lead respectively on Austrian pair Elisabeth Goergl and Renate Goetschl. A solid performance in her favoured event could hand her the title and also help her close the 157-point lead on her friend, Lindsey Vonn, in their duel for the coveted overall World Cup crown.
In the event the super-Gs are cancelled, it will be the first time that no speed events are held at the World Cup finals since the super-G's conception in 1994.
