“Two hours before we started at 11 it was good enough to go -- similar to yesterday. Also, during the forerun -- we had five forerunners -- it was good enough to go. Safe,” Waldner said. "But then, suddenly, wind gusts were coming. … (We decided) this is dangerous. It's unpredictable. We cannot handle this.”
The decision was criticized by some skiers, who already felt they were at a disadvantage because no one had been on the course until the first training run Thursday. There also were complaints that the three skiers who did get a run in, one of whom was gold-medal favorite Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, will have an advantage in Sunday’s race.
“Of course I can accept all this criticism coming from the racers, some coaches, that this is an advantage for the three racers,” Waldner said. “But this is force majeure. We're an outdoor sport, force majeure, and we make always decisions in terms of safety.
“Due to safety we made this decision, very simple."
Normally, skiers are able to familiarize themselves with the Olympic course at test events ahead of the Games, but those were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With Thursday the first time they could ski the course, many used their initial training run to simply take mental stock, noting the terrain, turns and jumps on the run. The remaining two runs would then be used to build speed and find areas where they could be aggressive.
But they’ll have to make do with what they got Thursday and Friday.
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