Empty stadiums and isolation: is there a risk of Corona chaos?

At the beginning of October, numerous competitions were canceled or relocated to other locations. The well-known sports festivals in front of tens of thousands, such as the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel or the ski jumping Four Hills Tournament, will be unthinkable this winter. But cheering crowds are not the biggest concern for athletes at the moment. Given the avalanche of cancellations that Corona has brought to summer sports, they initially hope to be able to start the competitions as planned. The biathlon proves how it could work: the stations in Östersund and Annecy have been canceled; instead, the first 22 races will be held in Kontiolahti in Finland and in Hochfilzen, Tyrol, in order to avoid unnecessary changes of location.

IBU President Olle Dahlin spoke of completely new challenges and said: “Although it is disappointing, we have to accept that the changes to our original plans are absolutely necessary.” Other sports could also be affected by such measures. What are the others doing? However, the issue of spectators is likely to be important for major events such as the ski jumping tour or the World Alpine, Nordic and Biathlete Championships. According to the current status, 2.500 fans should be admitted to the start of the tour in Oberstdorf; there would be a little more time until the Nordic World Ski Championships (from February 23, 2021), which will also take place in Oberstdorf. Cortina d'Ampezzo is currently planning around 5.000 fans per day for the Alpine Ski World Championships, which could mean 50.000 to 60.000 spectators over the entire duration.

No spectators are allowed in Sölden this year. © APA/afp / JOE KLAMAR

The approaching alpine start in Sölden shows how quickly such plans can be thwarted. In Tyrol – for example, coming from Germany, an officially risk area – no spectators are allowed at all. Instead, there should be four groups of people on site who remain self-contained: racers and supervisors, organization, media and a small number of invited guests. The usual party and supporting program will be canceled, it was said. The same should apply to other party world cups in all sports this winter. At the Alpine event, the North American stations have already been canceled at the end of November.

The sports in the ice canal and on the ice rinks, where the world associations had to intervene massively in the calendar at an early stage, are also hit hard. The Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships have been moved from Lake Placid in the USA to Altenberg; due to the pandemic, the Luge World Championships will be staged at Königssee instead of on the Canadian Olympic track in Whistler. Further adjustments are likely to follow given the dynamic situation in all sports.

Speed skaters, figure skaters and short trackers are even threatened with unemployment until Christmas. The world association ISU canceled the most important international competitions in all three sports on Wednesday and wants to replan the Olympic test events in China in consultation with those involved. These will be communicated at a later date. Four speed skating World Cups had previously been canceled in November and December.

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Empty stadiums and isolation: is there a risk of Corona chaos?

Winter sports have big plans in the coming months. There has been a lot of time since spring to prepare Corona concepts, but just a few weeks before the start, many questions remain unanswered.

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