Olympic organisers face a race against time to squeeze in Alpine Skiing mixed event before the closing ceremony after winds of 27 miles per hour forced the race to be rescheduled… but it risks being CANCELLED with just one day of the games left
- The Alpine skiing mixed event was due to take place on Saturday in Beijing
- High winds forced organisers to initially postponed the event for later in the day
- But the decision was eventually taken to reschedule the competition for Sunday
- The final day of the games is on Sunday with the closing ceremony taking place
- The ominous forecasts continue and the event might not be able to take place
Olympic organisers have been left scrambling to reschedule the Alpine Skiing mixed event with just one day of the games left.
High winds have forced organisers to postpone Saturday’s Alpine mixed team parallel race.
The event has been rescheduled for Sunday but it is the final day of the Winter games in Beijing with the closing ceremony due to take place in the evening.
Olympic organisers face a race against time to reschedule the Alpine Skiing mixed event
The event was postponed for later on Saturday before being rescheduled for Saturday following high winds
Organisers now face a race against time to ensure the event takes place or risk being forced to cancel the competition all together with forecasts similarly ominous for Sunday.
Several teams were also scheduled to fly out of China Saturday night or Sunday morning.
The event was initially postponed for later on Saturday but with gusts of at least 27 miles per hour still ravaging the Xiaohaituo Mountain the decision was taken to reschedule it for another day.
Gusts of at least 27 miles per hour forced the event to be moved to the final day of the games
The high-force winds had bent at the slalom gates at 45-degree angles, lightweight barriers were nearly displaced, gondolas were swaying so much they nearly hit the support poles and snow was being blown about.
According to Yahoo, officials from the International Ski Federation, the International Olympic Committee, the Beijing organising committee and the Olympic Broadcasting Service met ‘immediately to discuss the potential re-scheduling of the event.’
Following the rescheduling of the event, they said they would help teams ‘with the logistical details.’
However, the event will reportedly still have to contend with winds projected to reach 25 miles per hour.
The high-force winds had bent at the gates on the slalom course at 45-degree angles
Lightweight barriers were nearly displaced as snow was churned up and blown about
The weather had affected another event with the men’s 50km freestyle race being delayed by an hour, before being shortened to 30km.
Strong winds buffeting the course and temperatures of minus 16 Celsius in the early afternoon caused organisers to make the changes just over an hour before the race was due to start.
‘Due to strong winds and the resulting extreme weather conditions on the course, the distance of the originally planned 50km will be shortened to 30km,’ the race organisers said in a statement.
‘The decision was taken in regards to the athlete’s safety, to reduce the time of exposure of athletes in extreme conditions.’