Snowfall blankets Beijing Winter Olympics, delays home favourite Gu's next event

ZHANGJIAKOU, China: Heavy snowfall brought a wintry atmosphere to the Beijing Winter Olympics on Sunday (Feb 13), as well as disruptions, forcing the postponement of home favourite Eileen Gu's qualifying run in the freeski slopestyle to Monday.

At the National Cross-Country Centre in Zhangjiakou, volunteers used leaf-blowers to clear the tracks used for classic-style skiing ahead of Sunday's 4x10km men's relay.

Swirling winds blew the powdery snow, limiting visibility for racers and fans alike and causing drifting on the course.

With temperatures of minus 11 degrees Celsius (12.2°F) at the venue 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Beijing, adverse weather slowed the pace considerably, and the race took almost half an hour longer than its equivalent at Pyeongchang 2018.

Earlier, the San Francisco-born Gu had been set to make her first competitive appearance since winning gold on Tuesday in Big Air for host China, but her legions of fans were forced to wait a day to see her qualifying run in freeski slopestyle.

The women's freestyle skiing aerials qualifiers that were due to be held on Sunday night were also postponed to Monday, with organisers yet to specify a time.

In Yanqing, the men's giant slalom Switzerland's Odermatt clinches giant slalom gold went ahead despite reduced visibility due to driving snow, with start intervals for the first group of racers shortened to one minute, 45 seconds. A decision to delay the second run by 75 minutes paid off with better conditions.

A lack of natural precipitation had forced organisers to make vast quantities of artificial snow to stage the Games, but snow that had been falling in Zhangjiakou since Saturday coated the surrounding brown hills white.

In the Chinese capital, which gets