Bansko, Bulgaria – After three and a half hours of delays, the jury officially canceled Saturday’s women’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill race in Bansko due to inconsistent high winds that blew up and down the mountain.

“In the morning there was no chance at all and as the day went on the gusts became less consistent, but they were still really strong,” explained Alex Hoedlmoser, women’s head coach for the U.S. Ski Team. “If we did go, it would have been just such an unfair and unsafe race.  Sometimes it was coming from behind and sometimes it was a headwind.”

Regardless of the scrapped race, Vail, Colo.’s Lindsey Vonn had already locked her fifth consecutive women’s downhill title and all six U.S. Ski Team downhillers qualified for the March 11-18 World Cup Finals in Schladming, Austria. Only the top 25 athletes in each discipline qualify.Julia Mancuso, of Squaw Valley, Calif., is ranked sixth and Mammoth Mountain, Calif.’s Stacey Cook is eighth. Vonn also currently leads the overall World Cup standings by 478 points over Slovenia’s Tina Maze.

“Even without today’s race, we got everybody in the World Cup Finals, that is pretty cool,” said Hoedlmoser. “Having the whole team there, six of them, that is pretty sweet and a huge testament to the hard work of the athletes and our coaches.”