. world ski news : ARE2007: Are we ever going to race? - 05 February 2007 - 15:46
The world championship opening race at Are, Sweden has been cancelled for a third consecutive day, this time due to poor visibility caused by fog and winds.
The men's super-G has been rescheduled for tomorrow at 10:00 CET, with the women's super-G still scheduled to follow at 12:30 CET.
Volunteers walk uphill as the men's super-G race at the Alpine Skiing World Championships is delayed in Are, Sweden February 5, 2007. The start of Monday's men's super-G race has been delayed because of poor visibility on the upper part of the course, organisers said. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (SWEDEN)
The world championships were originally scheduled to start on Saturday at the Swedish resort, but poor visibility, winds and snowfall forced organisers to postpone the men's super-G a first time.
The women's race, scheduled for Sunday, was also moved to Tuesday because of poor weather conditions.
Organisers again felt it would be dangerous to proceed with the men's super-G on Monday after heavy fog and high winds blotted visibility on the Olympia course.
The race's starting position was originally moved down from 1,033 metres to 929 metres in order to try and augment visibility, but ultimately scraped altogether when there was no improvement.
"It was the right decision," International Ski Federation (FIS) president Gian-Franco Kasper told reporters. "The wind and fog made it very difficult to have a race. The weather forecast is good for tomorrow (Tuesday) and it was better to wait."
Norwegian ski supporters sit in the empty stands afte the the Men's Super-G race was cancelled at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, Monday, Feb. 5, 2007. The Men's Super-G was postponed again,due the high winds and poor visibility. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
Forecasts for Tuesday predict wind speed to cut in half to 8 km/hour with a chance of snow showers in the early morning hours and temperatures between -15 and -18 degrees Celsius.
Eurosport - Jeremy Stahl, 05/02/2007
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