GERMANY’S Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt compete in the men’s luge doubles at the Olympic Sliding Centre.—AFP
While the snowboarding went ahead, it was very different elsewhere as high winds forced organisers to close Gangneung’s Olympic Park to visitors and postpone the women’s slalom skiing and the women’s 15km individual biathlon.
At Gangneung, a coastal city, spectators were urged to stay indoors, shops were shut and visitors were turned away from Olympic Park, which houses four ice sports arenas.
High winds have badly disrupted, in particular, the skiing events, meaning a frustrating wait for America’s Mikaela Shiffrin and her bid for multiple medals.
But officials said they had no concerns about fitting in all the ski events, which include another 10 gold medal races before the closing ceremony on Feb 25.
“If the wind continues to blow for the next 15 days then I guess it might be a problem,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams.
Wind also delayed in the Nordic combined normal hill event, before Germany’s Eric Frenzel retained his title.
Jorien ter Mors won the women’s 1,000m speed skating, extending the Netherlands’ perfect record in the competition so far, and Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt defended their title in the men’s doubles luge.
The unified Korean women’s ice hockey team ended their Group ‘B’ campaign with a 4-1 defeat to Japan, following 8-0 thrashings by Switzerland and Sweden.
The two Koreas, the first joint Korean team of any Olympics, enjoyed deafening home support and scored their first goal of the tournament through Korean-American Randi Griffin in the second period.
It comes after North Korea’s Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik successfully reached the pairs figure skating final, supported in the stands by their country’s tightly choreographed “army of beauties” cheering squad.
“There has been no discomfort and now that we have competed, [we could see] how strong our Korean people can be when we are together,” said Kim, 25.
“We are one people sharing the same bloodline.”
North Korea ended months of tension with the South last month when it agreed to attend the Games, sending 22 athletes including 12 players for the hockey team.
Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2018