Climate Change Protesters Target Opening Men’s 23-24 World Cup Race

Several members of a protest group called The Last Generation ran onto the finish line of the slalom course at Obergurgl near the conclusion of the first Men’s World Cup race of the 23-24 season, delaying it for a short period. Three previous races in Zermatt and Solden had to be cancelled due to bad weather.

At least two activists from the group spread red powder over the snow on the finish line, with just five racers left to complete the second run.

They were dragged away by police and security officials and the race restarted after eight minutes. Eurosport camera crews focussed on apparently angry Norwegian ski racer Henrik Kristoffersen who had to physically restrained as he lunged towards the protesters. It’s unclear why he was so angry but his young teammate, 22-year old Alexander Steen Olsen, was the one held at the top of the course and subsequently had a poor second run and dropped down the leader board.

In the end, the podium was shared by three Austrians, two of whom had raced before the protest.  Manuel Feller, who had had a huge lead after his first run, managing to hold on to take victory despite the earlier distraction by the protestors. Britain’s Dave Ryding, who is sponsored by the local Gurgl region, moved up from 15^th to 4^th place after his second run, missing out on a podium place by 100^th of a second. 

Britain also had two other racers in the second run, having moved up from outside the top 30 in the first run. Billy Major got his best ever result of 16^th but Laurie Taylor unfortunately straddled when well in the lead on his second run, so officially ‘Did Not Finish.’

The Last Generation was formed in 2021 and has carried out hundreds of  protests, mostly blocking roads and interrupting major sports events in their core area of Germany, Austria and Italy, with their key focus of protesting government funding of fossil fuels. The group is reported to be mostly made up of a loose alliance of students and other young people concerned about their and the world’s futures.

The FIS, which organises World Cup racing, has a mixed history with addressing climate change. Former president, the late Gian Franco Kasper appeared, from comments made to media, to be a  climate change denier, although he later said he was intending to be humorous.

More recently, earlier this year during the Alpine World Ski Championships held in Méribel and Courchevel, hundreds of athletes demanded the FIS do much more to address the issue by supporting moves by Protect Our Winters to promote what they say could be a more environment-friendly attitude to running the World Cup circuit.