Olympics-Freestyle skiing-Freeski slopestyle qualifiers postponed until Monday due to snow

ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) -The women's freeski slopestyle qualifiers at the Beijing Games were postponed until Monday due to weather conditions, organisers said, as heavy snow led to poor visibility.

The qualifying session will be rescheduled to 10 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Monday, according to an online notice.

The adjustment had the knock-on effect of pushing the final session and men's freeski slopestyle events to a later time.

The women's final session is scheduled for 09:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Tuesday, followed by the men's qualifying round at 12:30 p.m. (0430 GMT). The men's final is set for 09:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Wednesday.

Steady snow had been falling on the course and organisers had earlier on Sunday delayed the event by two hours.

A total of 27 skiers were scheduled to participate in the qualifiers on Sunday, including home favourite Eileen Gu, who picked up the Big Air gold nL8N2UJ0BK medal on Tuesday.

Italian skier Elisa Maria Nakab crashed during a practice run on the course on Sunday and was bleeding from the mouth.

Air temperatures dropped to -15 degrees Celsius (5°F) at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou as snow fell steadily on the course.

(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Mari Saito; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Ken Ferris)