Kananaskis Valley (AB), Canada – Baby, it’s cold outside!

Anyone in western North America can tell you about the arctic blast that’s enveloped the left half of the continent, but how often do you postpone a World Cup race due to the cold? Mother Nature herself interrupted the season-opening Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup event in Nakiska, Alberta, Canada on Friday as the first of two back-to-back races was postponed due to the extreme cold.

A men’s qualification round took place Friday morning but with temperatures hovering around -25ºC to -30ºC on the hill at the Nakiska Ski Area, a jury decision was made to move Friday’s men’s and women’s finals to Saturday. A second World Cup race originally scheduled for Saturday was cancelled. The jury decision was made following consultation with athlete representatives.

“We’ve been monitoring the temperatures all morning, interviewing athletes as they come down, talking to connection coaches and the coaches themselves. It’s all about safety,” said Jim Sidorchuk, the chief of competition. “Things were not getting better so we had to err on the side of caution and postponed until tomorrow.

“The official decision is made by the jury but the jury goes through due process. We interview the athletes; we interview the coaches. The consensus from athlete representatives was to postpone.”

Canada’s athlete representative is Dave Duncan, of London, Ontario, who was ninth-fastest in the qualification round and advanced to Friday’s finals, which will now take place on Saturday.

“Today there was quite a bit of consensus about the cold. We took a vote of the athlete representatives – each athlete represents a nation – and it was pretty unanimous that the athletes’ opinion was to move today’s race to tomorrow,” said Duncan. “Personally I would have liked to race today but I’m a big advocate of the athlete voice and the consensus was to move on to tomorrow. It’s just unfortunate that these are the cards we’ve been dealt today.”

The women’s qualification round took place on Thursday and the round of 32 is due to start at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

“I’m a little disappointed but we’ll get to race tomorrow, which will be good,” said Canadian athlete Marielle Thompson, of Whistler, British Columbia. “Hopefully it’ll be a little warmer in the afternoon when we’re racing. Everyone’s ready to race and ready to show our home crowd what we can do.”