A statement from the FIS confirmed it had received "some unexpected cancellations" due to a variety of reasons, leaving the organisation looking for replacement venues.

Events were scheduled to held in Chiesa in Italy, Tazawako in Japan and Kuzbass in Russia but all three have now been cancelled.

Chiesa in Valmalenco was set to play host to a moguls race on January 23, but the FIS said it was unable to go ahead due to "consistent warm temperatures in the region".

This was due to be followed by moguls and dual moguls competitions in Tazawako from February 26 to 27 only for the stage to be called off because of "COVID-19 regulations in place in Japan".

Coronavirus cases topped 1,000 for the first time in three months in Japan yesterday, as a result of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The World Cup leg in moguls and dual moguls scheduled to take place in Kuzbass from March 5 to 6 has also been cancelled.

Citing "unforeseen circumstances with the Organising Committee", the FIS said it was "not possible" to stage the competitions.

The cancellations leave a sizeable gap in the World Cup calendar with no competitions for two months until Almaty in Kazakhstan is due to stage dual moguls events on March 12.

The Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held in Chinese capital Beijing from February 4 to 20.

The FIS said it planned to work with organisers in a bid to find replacements following the conclusion of the Games.

Japan’s Ikuma Horishima leads the men’s moguls standings with Mikaël Kingsbury of Canada topping the dual moguls leaderboard.

Australia’s Jakara Anthony holds top spot in both the women’s moguls and dual moguls rankings.

Mont-Tremblant in Canada is scheduled to host the next leg of the World Cup from January 7 to 8 (Friday and Saturday).