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The men’s downhill, the blue riband event of the Winter Olympics, has been cancelled after 50mph gusts made it impossible for the gondolas taking the skiers up the mountain to be safely operated.
With weather at the Jeongseon Alpine Center expected to worsen over the coming hours, the organisers said they had no choice but to move the event, which was due to take place on Sunday lunchtime, to 11am on Thursday.
That will have the knock-on effect of pushing the men’s super-G to Friday, February 1When there were fears earlier in the week that the race may have to be postponed, the 2014 Olympic Super G champion Kjetil Jansrud insisted that maintaining the integrity of the competition was paramount. “The message we got is that they want to do the downhill from the top in fair conditions,” he said. “I‘m thankful to hear that because that’s the way it should be in the Olympics. We do have reserve days and if the gondola’s not going to run we have a major problem.”
International Ski Federation (FIS) chief race director Markus Waldner said at Friday’s team captains’ meeting that organisers were prepared for a lot more disruption over the next four days and were planning accordingly.
Waldner said organisers would proceed with planning to race on Sunday with the first alternative being to move it to Monday at noon local time, between the two runs of the women’s giant slalom at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre.
If they were unable to run the downhill before Thursday, then it would replace the Super G in the schedule with the other speed race shifting to Friday, currently a rest day.
“We have some challenging days ahead,” admitted Waldner.
Weather disruptions are commonplace in Alpine skiing both on the World Cup circuit and at the Olympics, and organisers always give themselves plenty of room for adjustments.
Canada’s Manuel Osborne-Paradis said dealing with the weather went part and parcel with competing in an outdoor sport. ‚“The weather happens - in and out of clouds, the wind, snow picks up, whatever,” he said. “You push out of the gate, you do your best for two minutes and all the stars have to align anyway. The only factor you’re in charge of is how you ski.”
World champion Beat Feuz of Switzerland and past Olympic downhill medalists Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud - both from Norway – are the favourites for the competition.6.
(GUARDIAN)
