WCup slalom cancelled after 25 starters due to soft course

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:16 p.m. ET

foxsports

MARIBOR, Slovenia (AP) Organizers cancelled a women's World Cup slalom after 25 starters on Sunday as the weakening course made a fair race impossible.

Days of mild temperatures softened the Pohorje course, which visibly deteriorated soon after the race started.

The snow surface broke in many spots after just a few skiers had completed their run. Rainfall further affected the conditions.

According to the athletes' representative, Sarka Strachova of Czech Republic, most skiers didn't want the race to be started.

FIS and local organizers suspended the race after 25 starters to allow course workers on the piste, before calling off the event just minutes later.

Strachova and Wendy Holdener of Switzerland shared the lead ahead of Petra Vhlova of Slovakia when the race was cancelled.