Last women’s downhill training cancelled in Sochi

By: 11 years ago

United States’ Julia Mancuso finishes in the downhill portion of the women’s supercombined at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. AP

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia—Organizers cancelled the last training session for the women’s downhill at the Sochi Olympics due to mild temperatures and soft snow conditions.

Tuesday’s session was due to be the fifth of the scheduled training runs before Wednesday’s gold medal final.

The course took a beating during Monday’s super-combined race, which was won by Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch.

The temperature was well above the freezing level during the super-combi, resulting in deep ruts at the bottom of the Rosa Khutor course.

American skier Julia Mancuso led the downhill portion of the super-combi and finished with a bronze medal after the slalom portion of the race. She’ll be among the favorites for Wednesday’s downhill, along with defending overall World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia and Lara Gut of Switzerland.

Four different women led the opening downhill training runs, with Austrians Anna Fenninger and Nicole Hosp and Swiss pair Fabienne Suter and Dominique Gisin taking turns at topping the charts.