Olympics - Cross-country skiing - Women's mass start brought forward due to bad weather

ZHANGJIAKOU, China : The final cross-country event of the Beijing Olympics has been brought forward to Sunday morning as high winds continue to buffet the skiing venue.

The men's 50km event was postponed by an hour on Saturday and shortened to 30km due to concerns over athlete safety and the possibility that wind chill could cause frostbite or other injuries.

Now the women's event has also been moved, from 2:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday to the earlier time of 11 a.m. (0300 GMT).

"The race distance and use of course remains the same," the organisers from the International Ski Federation (FIS) said in a statement.

(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)