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https://www.euronews.com/green/2026/02/18/a-dangerous-trend-olympic-voice-concern-over-receding-glaciers>
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Olympic host country Italy has lost more than 200 square kilometres of
glacier area since the late 1950s.
Team USA skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, along with Italy's Federica
Brignone, are among the many skiers who have expressed concern during these
Olympic Games about the accelerating melt of the world’s glaciers.
And Olympic host city Cortina is a fitting place for them to be talking about
climate change: glaciers once visible from town have dramatically shrunk. Many
have been reduced to tiny glaciers or residual ice patches at high elevations
among the jagged peaks of the Dolomites. Any Olympian or spectator wishing to
lay eyes on a major glacier would have to take a long drive on winding mountain
roads to the Marmolada. It's melting rapidly, too.
The world’s top skiers train on glaciers because of the high-quality snow
there, and a warming world jeopardises the future of their sport. Vonn started
skiing on glaciers in Austria when she was just 9 years old.
“Most of the glaciers that I used to ski on are pretty much gone,” 41-year-old
Vonn said at a pre-race press conference in Cortina before she crashed on the
Olympic downhill course. “So that’s very real and it’s very apparent to us.”
As athletes in snow sports, Shiffrin said, they “get a real front-row view” to
the monumental changes underway atop some of the world’s highest, coldest
peaks.
“It is something that’s very close to our heart, because it is the heart and
soul of what we do,” Shiffrin told news agency
AP after racing Sunday. “I
would really, really like to believe and hope that with strong voices and
broader policy changes within companies and governments, there is a hope for a
future of our sport. But I think right now, it’s a little bit of a question.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
