Difficult weather conditions were part of the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, forcing the postponement of several events.
The women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle qualifying was postponed to Monday due to wind, snow and low visibility. The same fate was reserved for the women’s acrobatic jump qualifications, which were postponed by 24 hours.
Snowfall continued throughout the day in the three areas hosting the Games, namely Beijing, Zhangjiakou and Yanqing. It was the first winter storm of the Olympic fortnight.
Despite the reduced visibility and difficult conditions for the athletes, other events still took place, such as the men’s giant slalom.
The first of two runs went as planned, but the second leg of the race was pushed back by just over an hour.
However, the snow and the wind did not deprive the Swiss Marco Odermatt, big favorite in this event, from winning his first Olympic gold medal, in his first participation in the Games.
However, the snow and the wind did not deprive the Swiss Marco Odermatt, big favorite in this event, from winning his first Olympic gold medal, in his first participation in the Games.
Odermatt clocked a time of two minutes, 9.35 seconds over the two heats combined, which put him ahead of Slovenian Zan Kranjec by nine tenths of a second. Reigning world champion Mathieu Faivre of France completed the podium with a time of 2:10.69.
The 24-year-old Swiss has been dominant in giant slalom this season. He won four of the five races on the World Cup circuit, in addition to sitting at the top of the world rankings in the discipline.
“It’s incredible, reacted Odermatt. It was a difficult day because of the conditions and the delay between the two runs. It lasted more than five hours in my case. It was hard to stay focused. »
“I never really dreamed of this moment, but right now I feel like I’m in a dream,” added the Swiss.
Richardson Viano, the first Haitian to compete in the Olympics yesterday, crashed in the first run and could not complete the event.
Another medal for Roeiseland
Presented later in the day, the biathlon events were not canceled or postponed, but the athletes also had to brave the cold and the wind in Zhangjiakou.
Unsurprisingly, it was the most accurate shooting athletes who won medals. Due to the conditions, several projectiles missed the target, resulting in penalty rounds for several competitors.
Norway’s Marte Olsbu Roeiseland missed just one of her shots to win the women’s 10 kilometer pursuit. Among the men, the Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet was perfect on the shooting range to win gold in the 12.5 km pursuit.
It was Roeiseland’s third gold medal — and fourth overall — in Beijing. Fillon Maillet was covered in gold for the second time in China.
“It was tough,” admitted Roeiseland. It was snowing a lot, so it was not easy to ski. Fortunately, my skis were perfect, which helped me a lot. »
In cross-country skiing, the quartet of the Russian Olympic Committee triumphed in the men’s 4 x 10 km relay, ahead of those of Norway and France.
Sheltered from the weather
The debut of the women’s monobob on the program of the Olympic Games went off without a hitch at the start of the day, since the track at the Yanqing National Sliding Center was completely covered.
Competing in the Olympics for the first time as an American citizen, Kaillie Humphries clocked a combined time of 2:09.10 for the first two of four runs to move into the provisional top spot.
“I wasn’t perfect,” Humphries said. I’ll try to pretend like day one never happened, but that’s easier said than done. »
Humphries holds a lead of 1.04 seconds ahead of Canadian Christine de Bruin (2:10.14) and 1.22 seconds ahead of German Laura Nolte (2:10.32). The American Elana Meyers Taylor, three-time Olympic medalist, occupies the fourth rung.
Barring a major mistake, it looks like these four women will fight for the three medals in this discipline in Beijing on Monday.
In short track speed skating, Hungarian Liu Shaoang was crowned champion in the 500 meters.
He dominated the A final from start to finish, reaching the finish in 40.338 seconds. It was her third medal of the Games, after bronze in the 1,000m and the mixed relay.
Russian Konstantin Ivliev and Canadian Steven Dubois completed the podium.
An Olympic record was also broken in this discipline on Sunday when the Netherlands won the women’s 3,000 meter relay.
Led by Suzanne Schulting, who captured her second gold and third overall in Beijing, the Dutch quartet completed the 27 laps of the course in 4:03.40.
South Korea, champion in this distance at the two previous Olympic Games, had to fall back on second place. China took third, while Canada finished just off the podium.
In addition, American Erin Jackson made history by becoming the first black woman to win a medal in long track speed skating, when she won gold in the 500m.
Valieva is still on the starting list
The Russian athlete Kamila Valieva is still on the preliminary start list for the short program in figure skating, which will take place Tuesday evening at the Omnisports Palace in Beijing.
Valieva will be the 26and skater to perform her program if the Court of Arbitration for Sport gives her permission to take part in the competition.
Her status should be known on Monday, the day after a hearing at which the 15-year-old skater is expected to testify.
Valieva’s status came into question last week, following a positive test for an illegal substance in December. She is the favorite to win the gold medal.