Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: Weather delays 2nd run of men's giant slalom

The second run of the 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 say it is tough to see but good enough to race in. Fourth-placed Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway says "the light is more than skiable" but adds "it just makes it difficult." The women's Olympic skiing slopestyle qualifying event has been moved to Monday with the final the following day. The competition was postponed Sunday due to wind, snow and low visibility. The men's slopestyle qualification has switched from Monday to Tuesday. The final will now be Wednesday.

Eileen Gu, who lives in the United States and represents China, will be going for a second gold medal. She won big air last Tuesday. Kaillie Humphries has a big lead in the first part of the monobob competition at the Beijing Olympics. Humphries is competing for the first time as an American citizen. It's also the first time monobob, a one-woman bobsled, has been an Olympic event. The reigning world monobob champion finished two runs Sunday in 2 minutes, 9.10 seconds, giving her a massive lead of 1.04 seconds over second-place Christine de Bruin of Canada.

De Bruin's time was 2:10.14. Laura Nolte of Germany was third in 2:10.32, and three-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. is right in the medal hunt — her time of 2:10.42 putting her fourth. Barring a big mistake by somebody, it looks like four women remain in the mix for the three medals. They'll be decided on Monday morning in Beijing, late Sunday night in the United States. The gap between Meyers Taylor and fifth-place Huai Mingming of China is nearly a half-second. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva remains on the preliminary start list for the short program at the Olympic Games, drawing a spot in the final group among 30 figure skaters due on the ice Tuesday night at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing.

Valieva will start 26th if the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which is meeting later Sunday, allows her to perform. Valieva's status was thrown into question this past week following a flagged drug test taken in December. She's favored to win if she's allowed to compete. The starting order for the short program is determined by splitting the field in half according to world rankings. The lowest-ranked skaters then draw for the first 15 starting positions and the highest-ranked skaters draw for the second 15, meaning those who have legitimate medal chances will be last to take the ice.

Young You of Korea will follow Valieva before her two Russian teammates, Alexandra Trusova and world champion Anna Shcherbakova. Kaori Sakamota of Japan drew the final starting number. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland is leading the first run of the Olympic men's giant slalom with only lower-ranked skiers remaining. It's the first time snow has fallen on an Alpine ski race at the Beijing Games and visibility has been an issue for skiers. Stefan Brennsteiner of Austria is 0.04 seconds behind in second and world champion Mathieu Faivre of France is 0.08 behind in third.

The 24-year-old Odermatt is a favorite for the victory, having won four of the five giant slalom races this season in the World Cup. It would be his first gold medal in his first Olympics. Snow has been falling since Saturday at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center, where athletes have been racing and training on artificial snow until now. A second women's downhill training run scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled. Italian Luca de Aliprandini said "you can't see anything" after his first run. The Olympic skiing slopestyle qualifying event at the Beijing Olympics has been postponed due to high wind, snow and low visibility

. With the flags of different countries whipping in the wind at Genting Snow Park, the organizers made the decision to postpone the qualifying round. They did not immediately announce a plan for rescheduling. The final is currently set for Monday. Eileen Gu, who lives in the United States and represents China, will be going for a second gold medal. She won big air last Tuesday. Standout Eileen Gu and the rest of the slopestyle skiers at the Beijing Olympics will have to wait a little bit longer to start qualifying with the competition delayed by weather. The wind was blowing and the snow falling at Genting Snow Park.

The diminishing visibility made performing tricks off the jumps difficult as well. The competition is delayed at least two hours. Gu, who was born in the U.S. and is competing for China, is trying to win her second gold medal at the Beijing Games. She's already won big air, which was held in Beijing. The second women's downhill training run for American Mikaela Shiffrin, Italian Sofia Goggia and other Alpine skiers has been canceled because of snowfall. The men's giant slalom race is still supposed to take place Sunday Beijing time. A downhill 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. Russian figure skating superstar Kamila Valieva was at a practice session Sunday, hours before the Court of Arbitration for Sport was scheduled to meet to decide whether she'll be allowed to compete. The meeting of CAS is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Sunday and a decision is expected sometime Monday, less than 24 hours before Valieva is scheduled to skate in the women's short program at the Beijing Games.

Valieva has been allowed to practice since Monday, when a drug test she took in December was flagged for traces of a banned heart medication. That was the same day Valieva helped Russia win the team gold medal with a dynamic free skate in which she became the first woman to land a quad lutz in Olympic competition. The practices have become increasingly uncomfortable, though, as Valieva continues to prepare with dozens of reporters and camera crews watching her every move. She briefly broke down in tears during her Friday session.