The FIS World Cup Men's Downhill at Lake Louise in BC, Canada has been dropped from the 2023-24 race calendar this coming winter.
Doubts over the future of the event, the traditional start of the speed racing season for decades, had been circulating for several years.
The FIS had initially listed the 2023 races to be staged between 22-26 November, but they've now gone from the official race calendar.
The issue is funding, with national racing body Alpine Canada confirmed Friday. In a media statement the organisation's chief executive officer Therese Brisson said they'd run out of time to secure the money needed.
"We've been working with various stakeholders since last season to try to find solutions and despite some progress, we have run out of time to confirm the funding early enough to execute the event for the upcoming 2023-24 season,"
However she hoped this was not the end.
"[We] will turn our attention to identifying solutions for the 2024-25 season and beyond," she said.
Lake Louise had been due to lose its place as season-opener for speed events last autumn, when a new race course created across the Swiss-Italian border between Zermatt and Cervinia, also the world's highest race course, had been due to stage a new season opener earlier in the autumn. Those races had to be cancelled though due to lack of snow due to climate change so the Lake Louise race was again the 22-23 season opener after all. This year the new Zermatt – Cervinia course again hopes to run the opening races in early November, conditions permitting.