Sochi 2014: Heavy Fog Forces Major Delays in Snowboarding, Biathlon

Snowboarding and biathlon were postponed until Tuesday due to heavy fog in the Caucasus Mountains in Sochi, Russia. 

The fog set in Sunday night and did not go away by Monday evening. Snowboardcross was delayed and finally postponed. It will start on Tuesday at 10:30AM and they dropped the seeding runs. The men’s biathlon mass-start will now be on Tuesday at 2:30PM

“You have to be able to hit the targets,” said Jerry Kokesh, the editor of the International Biathlon Union’s official website, adding that the course becomes more dangerous as well. “Uphills are not a problem, but downhills are. … That can be a serious safety concern.”

This is not the first weather delay. Sochi is in a subtropic climate and typically a summer resort. Many publications say the city is experiencing “unseasonably” warm temperatures, but the average temperatures in February are in the 50s. The warm weather caused the snow to turn to slush and the fake snow turned to ice. Russia skier Maria Komissarova broke her back, US snowboarder Jackie Hernandez suffered a concussion and 18 of the 49 skiers in the women’s super-G did not finish.