Second run of Olympic women’s giant slalom postponed

Published 7:28 pm Wednesday, February 24, 2010

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Dense fog enveloped the Olympic mountain Wednesday and forced organizers to postpone the second run of the women’s giant slalom until Thursday.

The first leg was held in driving snow and low visibility, and organizers attempted to get the second run in by shortening the course and delaying the start several times. But the fog only got worse, slowly creeping down the mountain and making it nearly impossible to see, and eventually the second run was put off until 9:30 a.m. PST the next day.

The forecast calls for rain and snow through Wednesday night and into Thursday.

“It’s more or less a little like today,” women’s race director Atle Skaardal said. “Probably and hopefully less fog, and maybe a little less precipitation.”

Skaardal said that only the first 30 skiers need to start the second run for the race results to be official.

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria led the opening leg in 1 minute, 15.12 seconds. Taina Barioz of France was only 0.02 behind, and Kathrin Zettel of Austria was third, 0.16 back.

American Lindsey Vonn crashed and broke her right pinkie.

The fog was so thick in the afternoon that it was difficult to see one gate from another at certain sections of the course. Large Olympic rings usually visible from the finish area couldn’t be seen.

Skaardal indicated there was never any consideration of throwing out the first-run results and restarting the race from scratch on Thursday.

“I don’t see why we should cancel the first run,” he said. “It was a fair and good first run. Why should we take it away?”

It won’t be the first time an Olympic race is held over two days.

At the 2006 Turin Games, the slalom runs of the women’s combined were held one day and the downhill leg the next.

After this race, two more events remain on the Alpine schedule — the women’s slalom Friday and the men’s slalom Saturday.

Vonn lost control around a right turn in the middle section of the course, got twisted around, landed hard on her left hip and crashed backward into the safety netting.

Defending champion Julia Mancuso had her first run down interrupted due to Vonn’s crash, then was brought back up for another try and placed 18th, 1.30 seconds behind Goergl.

Mancuso had posted faster split times in her first attempt.

Goergl took bronze behind Vonn and Mancuso in the downhill that opened the women’s Alpine program. She has won three World Cup races in her career, two in giant slalom — but the last nearly two years ago.

Barioz’s best finish in any discipline was third in a giant slalom in Lienz, Austria, in December.

Zettel opened her games by finishing fourth in the super-combined. A technical specialist, she is second in this season’s World Cup giant slalom standings, having won the GS in Maribor, Slovenia, last month.

Another Austrian, Eva-Maria Brem, was fourth, and Tina Maze of Slovenia — who took silver in super-G — was fifth.

German standout Maria Riesch was seventh, 0.48 second behind Goergl; Swedish great Anja Paerson was 12th, 0.89 out, and Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was 13th, with 1.04 to make up.

“The visibility was pretty bad. We could see about three gates so you really had to trust yourself,” Paerson said. “I think I have a good chance of taking a medal here, but then I really have to charge in the second run.”

Sarah Schleper of Vail, Colo., was the top American finisher in the opening run in 14th, 1.07 back.