Cold and wind won't stop cross-country competitions at PyeongChang, says FIS official

PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Pierre Mignerey, an official with the International Ski Federation (FIS), said the bitter cold and wind won't affect the cross-country skiing like other events at the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games on Tuesday.

"We have good snow conditions and the wind is not impacting the cross-country courses a lot," said Mignrey, also a technical official at the PyeongChang Games. "Still we have wind, but it's no problem for us to run the competitions."

The adverse weather had caused postponements of some Alpine events of the Games which was hit by high wind and bitter cold in the past week.

Mignerey said it would be an aberration if they had to postpone a cross-country event due to weather. "Only maybe once or twice in the last 10 to 15 years we have had to do something regarding the schedule," he said.

"Only if the temperature is colder than minus 20 degrees, then we have to do something, otherwise there is nothing that can really impact the cross-country racing."

Mignerey also said the fierce competition at PyeongChang was a delight to see.

"In the first two races, skiathlon ladies' and men's, they were interesting with many teams fighting for the podium. Even for the men, although at the end we had three Norwegians on the podium, during the race it was an open race with a lot of teams and other athletes fighting for the podium and the medals. It's been a very positive start to the Games."

"We have the relays and other events still to come and it looks like it's quite open as well," he said. Enditem