Tuesday 18 February 2014

Sochi 2014: Alex "Chumpy" Pullin forced to wait as Snowboard Cross is postponed due to heavy fog

Heavy fog created dangerous conditions in the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, and despite skipping the seeding stage altogether and repeatedly postponing the start time, officials decided to postpone the event.
The event is now set to start at 5:30pm Tuesday (AEDT), with the seeding phase of the competition to be scrapped as competitors head straight into quarter-final racing.
Pullin is considered the clear favourite for the event, while fellow Australians Cam Bolton and Jarryd Hughes are also set to compete in the quarter-final stage.
Ben Wordsworth, head coach of Australian snowboarding, praised his team's focus and attitude throughout the disrupted morning.
“The boys remained positive and focused throughout the day and were ready to race at a moment’s notice," Wordsworth said.
"They are now going through the same routine today, ... are all in a very positive frame of mind and are looking forward to getting out there”.
World number one Pullin was understandably disappointed at the postponement, but agreed it was the right decision.
"I think everyone was pretty pumped to go this morning but as we saw, the weather wasn't letting up at all which was unfortunate," Pullin said.
"They did everything they could. They even turned on the snow guns to blow it away, which was pretty funny."
"We really couldn't see anything, we couldn't see the last jump so we would have landed out of the last turn and not know where to go at absolutely full speed.
"So at the time it was an obvious decision but now we are seeing the conditions lift and we certainly could have raced now but we got to that point where it would have run overtime."
Hughes jokingly bemoaned his bad luck.
"I called it as soon as I got here - that there would be bad weather on the day I race," he said.
"It can't stay sunny the whole time for that long."
The fog has also forced the postponement of the men's biathlon for the second consecutive day, while a decision will be made on the women's biathlon later in the day.

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