Dangerous conditions at the start of the men’s downhill: The races had to be postponed due to strong winds – Športky.sk

YEN-CHING – The men’s convention at the Beijing Olympics will not take place until Monday. A strong gust of wind made it impossible to complete the introductory discipline of alpine skiing on Sunday, and the organizers had to postpone the competition by one day. On Monday, they set his start at 5.00 CET, between two rounds of giant women’s slalom. He will go in new times – 1st round 2.30 and second 7.30 CET.

The congress was originally supposed to start at 4.00 CET (11.00 local time), but due to bad weather, it was first moved an hour three times. Even then, however, conditions at the mountain resort of Xiaochai-choo did not improve, and so after 6 am European time, a final verdict was reached on the postponement of royal discipline “in the interests of security and fair competition.” At the top of the “Rock – Rock” slope, the wind speed reached almost 50 km / h, in gusts up to 65 km / h.

Already on Saturday, the organizers indicated a possible time shift, as the forecast indicated windy conditions and they were not to stabilize until the afternoon of that time. “We want the race to be as fair as possible,” APA quoted FIS Director Markus Waldner as saying.

TASR recalls that the strong wind in the gaming venue has already caused the cancellation of Saturday’s third timed practice. After the rides of the first three skiers, he was first interrupted and finally terminated prematurely for safety reasons. In the first timed practice for the downhill, the Swiss Stefan Rogentin achieved the best time, in the second the fastest track was Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.

Until Friday, medal decisions are on the agenda at the Alpine Skiing Center in Yenching every day. In addition to the men’s downhill, there will be a huge women’s slalom on Monday, a super-G men on Tuesday, a women’s slalom on Wednesday, a combination of men on Thursday and a super-G women’s on Friday. On Saturday, the first timed training for the women’s downhill is planned.

• The author: © List
• Source: TASR