After a winter of 2020/2021 entirely without an audience, skiers were delighted with the return of spectators to the arrival areas this season.
But two months after the start of the season party on the Rettenbach glacier in Austria, the country where skiing is king will once again experience the camera in Tyrol (south).
The Austrian federation (ÖSV) has announced the measure for the Lienz stage, but also the events scheduled for January in Flachau and Zauchensee (alpine skiing), Innsbruck and Bischofshofen (jumping, Tour des Quatre Tremplins) and Bad Gastein (snowboard) .
"We are aware of our responsibility," said the president of the federation Roswitha Stadlober as the country gradually eases the confinement in force since the end of November to cope with the contagious variant Omicron.
The ÖSV maintains for the moment the presence of the public in Kitzbühel (January 21-23), the major sporting event of the country where tens of thousands of fans usually go.
In addition, several cases of Covid-19 have been announced on the World Cup, the last two to date concerning the staff of the International Ski Federation (FIS) and in particular the director of women's races Peter Gerdol, tested positive after the Courchevel giants last week.
Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami, who has already missed two stages in France (Val d'Isère and Courchevel) because of the virus, remains “uncertain” according to Swiss-Ski.
New Zealander Alice Robinson has announced that she came out of her isolation with a negative test and will therefore make her comeback as a giant, while Austrian world slalom champion Katharina Liensberger, who was announced positive last week, remains uncertain.
The American Mikaela Shiffrin, last winner at Lienz in 2019 (giant and slalom), has a great opportunity to increase her lead in the general classification.
She is currently 115 points higher than Italian speed specialist Sofia Goggia.