PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- High winds are wreaking havoc at the 2018 Winter Games with athletes struggling to cope with unpredictable conditions, but despite two events already being postponed, the International Olympic Committee is not entertaining a scenario where certain competitions will be canceled.
Sunday's men's downhill was postponed until Thursday due to strong winds, and the women's giant slalom on Monday met the same fate. Though the men's slopestyle final went ahead Sunday, medalists spoke of the brutality of the conditions while Australian snowboarder Tess Coady partly blamed wind for the crash which saw her Games end with a ruptured ACL.
POCOG spokesman Sung Baik-you admitted Monday the wind was causing difficulties but said the forecast they received painted a better picture for later in the week with both the men's downhill land women's grand slalom now penciled in for Thursday.
The postponement to Monday's giant slalom meant Mikaela Shriffin's much-anticipated PyeongChang bow would have to wait. "It's a bummer that we're not able to race today," she said. "But with the training block I've had, I'm prepared and feeling good. I'll use this time to continue to train and refocus on Wednesday's slalom race. We have a great gym and space to eat and take plenty of naps, so I'll use this time to recharge."
The IOC spokesman Mark Adams said "those used to covering winter sports know that it's not unusual" to have wind play a role in effecting the schedule and would not entertain the notion of the Games being lengthened or events canceled.
"The safety of the athletes is the No.1 priority," Adams said. "There are reserve days and plenty of time to get the competition in."
He added that any decisions on when events are postponed are down to the sport's governing body, in skiing's case the International Ski Federation (FIS), and said they will "bow to the federations" and their call. But there are concerns from athletes competing that the conditions in events still going ahead are dangerous.
POCOG would not be drawn on reports from the Australian camp that wind had high winds had played a role in snowboarder Coady's injury, with Sung saying: "I've not had any report it's due to the wind. I will check the facts."
She fell on Sunday during practice prior to qualification for the women's slopestyle, which was then canceled by FIS. "[I] got picked up in the wind on the bottom jump in practice and my ACL was not a big fan!" she wrote on her Instagram page. Ian Chestermen, Australia's chef de mission, wants answers over whether she should have been allowed to participate in the first place.
"I think that is something that definitely needs to be reviewed," he said. "I don't think anyone can say for sure that's [high winds] what caused this accident, but I think it certainly needs to be reviewed.
"I think the international federation need to at some point review whether or not training should have taken place. They obviously canceled the event."
Though events are being canceled, the men's slopestyle went ahead Sunday and Canadian silver medallist Max Parrot spoke of the brutal conditions.
"It was a big challenge with the wind," Parrot said on Monday. "We saw it with many runs, like my first two jumps. On my second jump, I crashed. I was going full speed on it, but just not making it to the landing.
"Many of the riders were having great trouble too. Sometimes it was back wind, sometimes front but fortunately on my last run the wind was with me."
ESPN The Magazine senior writer Alyssa Roenigk contributed to this report.