US skiers to don local weather change-themed race fits at worlds

Trying cool is simply the tip of the iceberg for Mikaela Shiffrin, Travis Ganong and the remainder of the U.S. ski staff once they debut new race fits on the world championships.

Much more, they need everybody desirous about local weather change.

The staff’s predominantly blue-and-white fits depict a picture of ice chunks floating within the ocean. It is a idea primarily based on a satellite tv for pc photograph of icebergs breaking as a result of excessive temperatures. The swimsuit was designed in collaboration with Kappa, the staff’s technical attire sponsor, and the nonprofit group Protect Our Winters (POW).

The Individuals will put on the fits all through the world championships in Courchevel and Meribel, France, which begin Monday with a ladies’s Alpine mixed race and finish Feb. 19.

“Though a race swimsuit is just not fixing local weather change, it’s a transfer to proceed the dialog and present that U.S Ski & Snowboard and its athletes are dedicated to being part of the longer term,” mentioned Sophie Goldschmidt, the president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

World warming has turn into a chilly, exhausting actuality in ski racing, with delicate temperatures and an absence of snow resulting in the postponement of a number of World Cup occasions this winter.

“I’m simply apprehensive a few future the place there’s no extra snow. And with out snow, there’s no extra snowboarding,” mentioned Ganong, who grew up snowboarding at Lake Tahoe in California. “So that is very close to and pricey to me.”

What alarms Ganong is seeing the stark year-to-year adjustments to a few of the World Cup circuit’s most storied venues.

“I imply, it’s simply form of scary, taking a look at how on the restrict (these occasions) are even to being attainable anymore,” mentioned Ganong, who’s been on the U.S. team since 2006. “Locations like Kitzbuehel (Austria), there’s a lot historical past and there’s a lot cash concerned with that occasion that they do no matter they will to host the occasion.

“However that brings up an entire different query about sustainability as properly: Is that what we ought to be doing? … What sort of message do we want present to the general public, to the world, about how our sport is adapting to this new world we reside in?”

The fits function a POW patch on the neck and the group’s snowflake emblem on the leg.

“By coming collectively, we are able to educate and mobilize our snowsports group to push for the clear power applied sciences and insurance policies that may most swiftly cut back emissions and shield the locations we reside and the existence we love,” based on a press release from govt director Mario Molina, whose group consists of athletes, enterprise leaders and scientists who’re making an attempt to guard locations from local weather change.

Ganong mentioned a gaggle of ski racers are releasing a letter to the Worldwide Ski Federation (FIS), with the hope the governing physique will take a stronger stance on sustainability and local weather change.

“They need to be on the forefront of making an attempt to adapt to this new world, and attempt to make it higher, too,” Ganong mentioned.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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