Olympic events cancelled and delayed as wild weather lashes Livigno

Livigno: Australia’s aerials and slopestyle athletes did not compete on Tuesday, after the women’s slopestyle final and men’s and women’s aerials qualifying were cancelled as wild weather continued to lash Livigno.

It’s the second day heavy snowfall and strong winds had wreaked havoc across the quiet Italian town, which is host to the snowboard and freestyle skiing events for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.

Event organisers were hopeful the women’s aerials qualifying would go ahead later in the day, but ended up pulling the pin after conditions failed to ease throughout the day.

Australia has four competitors in that event – medal contender Danielle Scott, Abbey Wilcox, Airleigh Frigo and Sidney Stephens, who had a late call-up into the Olympic team after Laura Peel withdrew after rupturing her ACL.

Australian aerials coach Renee McElduff said it was a combination of the low visibility and medical access that forced the event’s cancellation.

“Our athlete safety is our number one priority, so if that’s at risk, then it’s absolutely the right decision [to call it off],” McElduff said.

“As the fog rolled in, we had some trouble with medical having access to the site. And if medical can’t be here, then it’s a little bit unsafe for us.”

The low visibility that comes with heavy snowfall makes it difficult for aerials skiers to see and can disorient them in the air, with the sky and landing blending together after multiple rotations.

The women’s qualifying and final will be held on Wednesday, February 18, while the men’s will be pushed to Thursday.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) also decided to postpone the women’s slopestyle final entirely on Tuesday with the relentless snowfall making it impossible to maintain the course. Sixteen-year-old Ally Hickman is the only Australian in that event, which is expected to be rescheduled to Wednesday.

The disruption to Tuesday’s events comes a day after the women’s freeski big air final was delayed when blizzard-like conditions swept through the town before maintenance workers worked tirelessly to clear the slope and get the final back up and running once conditions eased.

Aerials practice also had to be abandoned on Monday after relentless snow made it impossible to jump.

For Flanagan, who is making his Olympic debut, the weather was disruptive, but unavoidable.

“We’ve already had two days on the site jumping and testing it out, seeing what the site is like,” Flanagan said.

“It would have been ideal to jump today, but everyone’s in the same boat, and we just have to adjust, do what we can, do a bit of visualisation and go from there.”

The 21-year-old from Noosaville has only been competing in aerials for five years, and has been on the World Cup circuit for the past two years, but said Monday’s conditions were up there with the worst he had seen.

“These are probably some of the worst conditions that we’ve tried to jump in. Given that we’re not jumping, the conditions are not very good, but it’s definitely not ideal with the snow.”

Olympic organisers preempted some of the chaos and disruption by bringing forward the men’s and women’s snowboard slopestyle qualifying event by a day to Sunday, with slopestyle the event most affected by the conditions.

“Of all the Park & Pipe competitions, slopestyle is the most sensitive to speed issues due to the length and width of the course and the number of features within said course,” a spokesperson for the International Ski and Snowboard Federation said.

“With the amount of snow we have seen today, it would be nearly impossible to keep the course clear of fresh snow in a way that would allow for safe and fair competition for the athletes.”

The Winter Olympic Games is broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.

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