Training spat

Croats “have cheated us”: Uproar in Zermatt

Excitement on the Matterhorn: the Croatian ski team has apparently tried to circumvent the summer training ban in the Zermatt ski resort. The Swiss are fuming.

Because the FIS has removed the Matterhorn downhill runs from the calendar from next winter, the ski stars will no longer have access to training slopes in Zermatt in summer.

"Elite ski teams will no longer have any training slopes from this summer. The situation will be reassessed in a year's time," said head of organization Franz Julen in a press release from Zermatt Bergbahnen in April. This means that, unlike in previous years, the national teams will not be allowed to prepare for the ski season on the Matterhorn. Only junior athletes without elite status can use the slopes.

"Croats have cheated"
As reported by the Swiss newspaper "Blick", a national team has now tried to trick the people of Zermatt. "The Croatians ordered a training slope for junior athletes from us. During the inspection, however, we discovered that these juniors included athletes who are already competing in the European Cup and therefore have elite status," Markus Hasler, boss of Zermatt Bergbahnen, is quoted as saying in the report.

Because the Croatians "cheated us", they were immediately expelled from the training area, according to Hasler. As a consequence, the Croatian junior athletes will also no longer be given permission to train.