Olympic organizers yesterday closed the ski slopes, then shortened the cross-country course by 40 percent as the weather turned wild in the mountains around Beijing.
Gusts of wind up to 65kph prompted delays and disarray at several outdoor events, with wind chills down to minus-32°C, making athletes miserable on the penultimate day of competition.
Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s hopes for a medal-worthy ending at what has been a maddening Games for her were pushed back a day when the mixed team parallel event was postponed.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Shiffrin, a two-time gold medalist, has gone 0-for-5 hunting another medal in Beijing, but is hoping to win one in her sixth race, a team event making its second appearance at the Winter Games.
Shiffrin’s haul from past Olympics includes two golds, but her best showing in five individual events in Beijing was ninth place in the super-G.
Wind led to the announcement of two one-hour delays for the mixed team event before the International Ski Federation eventually said it would not be possible to hold the competition at all yesterday.
Photo: AFP
About 75 minutes later, after what the ski federation called a meeting “to discuss the potential rescheduling of the event,” the race was shifted to 9am today, 11 hours before the closing ceremony.
The men’s 50km cross-country mass start was delayed and then trimmed to 30km.
Alexander Bolshunov sprinted to his third Olympic gold medal.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Russian was part of a five-man breakaway in the final 1km.
He pushed ahead on the final climb into the stadium, taking the title in 1 hour, 11 minutes, 32.7 seconds.
Russian teammate Ivan Yakimushkin crossed the line 5.5 seconds behind for silver and Simen Hegstad Krueger of Norway took bronze, 7 seconds behind the winner.
There was chaos at an indoor event, too.
Defending champion Nana Takagi crashed out in the women’s mass start semi-finals, the second time the Japanese speedskater fell while leading a race in Beijing.
Takagi stumbled and her left hand touched the rinkside padding before she slid on her side into the outer padding.
Irene Schouten of the Netherlands won the final, with Canadian Ivanie Blondin taking silver and Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy claiming bronze.
Bart Swings of Belgium took gold in the men’s mass start, with silver and bronze going to South Korea’s Chung Jae-won and Lee Seung-hoon respectively.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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