Disappointment for HK’s Yung in Beijing blizzard

Hong Kong’s teenage skier Adrian Yung found himself in the snow and down to one ski as he joined dozens of other competitors in falling foul of difficult conditions in the first run of the giant slalom at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Yung, the last of the SAR’s three-strong team to compete at the Games, was one of 33 skiers in the 89-strong field who failed to make it through the morning run as blizzards gripped the capital and its surrounding regions.

The British-raised skier lost a ski on a sharp term in the driving snow, but will have a second opportunity in the slalom on Wednesday.

Favourite Marco Odermatt of Switzerland had a lead of four hundredths of a second over Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner after the first run.

Overall World Cup and giant slalom leader Odermatt recovered from an error in the upper section to cross the line in 1:02.93.

France’s Mathieu Faivre was also within striking distance, finishing just 0.08 behind the Swiss all-rounder, with Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen and another Frenchman, Thibaut Favrot, also in contention.

The second run is due to start at 1.45pm.

Earlier, the women’s freeski slopestyle qualifiers were postponed to Monday due to weather conditions. Steady snow had been falling on the course and organisers had earlier delayed the event by two hours on Sunday.

A total of 27 skiers were scheduled to participate in the qualifiers on Sunday, including home favourite Eileen Gu, who picked up the Big Air gold medal on Tuesday.

Italian skier Elisa Maria Nakab crashed during a practice run on the course earlier on Sunday and could be seen bleeding from the mouth.

Air temperatures dropped to -15 degrees Celsius (5°F) at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou as steady snow fell on the course. (RTHK/Reuters)