The second run of the Olympic men’s giant slalom has been postponed amid heavy snowfall and low visibility at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center.
Marco Odermatt of Switzerland has a lead of 0.04 seconds over Stefan Brennsteiner of Austria and 0.08 over world champion Mathieu Faivre of France after the first run.
It is the first time snow has fallen during an Alpine skiing race at the Beijing Olympics.
Snow has been falling since Saturday at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center, where athletes had been racing and training on artificial snow. A second women’s downhill training run scheduled for Sunday was canceled.
The skiers said it is tough to see but good enough to race in.
Fourth-placed Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway said, “The light is more than skiable,” but added, “It just makes it difficult.”
Earlier, the second women’s downhill training run for American racer Mikaela Shiffrin, Italy’s Sofia Goggia and other Alpine skiers also was canceled because of snowfall.
A downhill race has faster speeds than the giant slalom and so is more dangerous to ski when visibility is poor.
Snow began falling Saturday at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center during the first women’s downhill practice session and continued into Sunday morning.
There is another downhill training scheduled for Monday, ahead of Tuesday’s race.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
