BEIJING, China — The last Alpine skiing race of the Beijing Olympics was postponed Saturday (Friday night in the U.S.) because of too-strong wind, and a decision was not immediately given about when — or even whether — the mixed team parallel event would be rescheduled.
Gusts at up to about 40 mph led to the announcement of two one-hour delays, before the International Ski Federation eventually said it would not be possible to hold the competition at all on Saturday.
Snow was being blown around and the blue and red gate flags were whipping along the race course known as Ice River at the National Alpine Skiing Center in Yanqing zone, about 55 miles northwest of central Beijing. Gondola service up to the race site was paused.
The ski federation said a meeting was being held “to discuss the potential rescheduling of the event,” which was supposed to be Mikaela Shiffrin‘s sixth of the Beijing Games — and her last chance to bring home an Olympic medal from China to go alongside the three she earned earlier in her career.
The 2022 Olympics end Sunday.
This was only the second time the team event has been part of the Alpine program at a Winter Games after making its debut at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
Athletes go head-to-head on parallel giant slalom courses during a series of heats, and each nation is represented by both women and men.
Only one of the 10 athletes who earned an individual Alpine gold in Beijing was listed on the team rosters released Friday: Austria’s Johannes Strolz. He won the men’s combined last week and also picked up a silver in slalom on Wednesday.
Shiffrin was named to the U.S. roster that was slated to face Slovakia in the opening round; other team members were Paula Moltzan, AJ Hurt, Tommy Ford, River Radamus and Luke Winters.
Shiffrin’s trio of medals from past Olympics include two golds, but her best showing in five individual events in China was ninth place in the super-G.
Otherwise, she was 18th in the downhill and ended up with “Did Not Finish” results next to her name for three races: giant slalom, slalom and Alpine combined.
The United States collected only one of the 30 individual medals in Alpine — Ryan Cochran-Siegle’s silver in super-G — the country’s lowest total since also getting just one at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
Switzerland led the Beijing standings after the individual events with nine medals, including a record five golds.
Other first-round matchups that were planned for the team event: Switzerland vs. China; Italy vs. Russia; Norway vs. Poland; France vs. Czech Republic; Germany vs. Sweden; and Slovenia vs. Canada.
There were 15 countries entered in a 16-team bracket, so top-ranked Austria received a first-round bye.
Four years ago, Switzerland won gold in the team event, with Austria earning the silver and Norway the bronze.