By Liz Hampton and Tommy Lund
TESERO, Italy, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Cross-country skiers are facing an unexpected challenge in their quest to win Olympic gold medals in the Val di Fiemme, Italy - the ever-changing weather conditions.
The six race days have brought variable conditions, few of which have been favourable for skiing, creating an extra problem for skiers, course managers and wax technicians alike.
U.S. skier Jessie Diggins fell in the first cross-country event of the Olympics, hurting her ribs
after catching her ski tip in slush. The injury has continued to trouble Diggins, who had been expected to be a medal contender in several events but has only one bronze to her name.
The warm weather persisted for the men's skiathlon the following day.
"It was a little bit of a heat stroke out there. It was warm," said U.S. skier Zanden McMullen.
The race track was salted ahead of the women's 10km freestyle cross-country race to make it more compact after Nordic combined skiers faced slush that could be seen above their race boots the previous day.
In the men's 10km freestyle race, temperatures were so warm that some skiers opted to go without the tops of their suits and wear only race bibs.
U.S. skier John Steel Hagenbuch, who came in 14th in that event and opted out of wearing a race top, posted a picture of himself on Instagram as a meme skiing shirtless on a beach after the race.
The weather turned particularly cruel, however, in the women's 4x7.5km relay on Saturday when slush and rain caused a number of major falls, dashing gold-medal favorite Sweden's chances for victory.
Sweden's Ebba Andersson, who has won two silver medals in these Games, lost a sizable lead following an uphill crash early in the race, only to suffer an even worse fall that left her flipping head over heels and losing a ski entirely later in her segment. A Swedish coach also fell while running to get Andersson a replacement ski.
That race started with a crash involving four skiers on the first downhill curve, a bad omen for many more to come. Skiers were not allowed to ski the track prior to the race, creating uncertainty.
“There were a lot of crashes, more than usual. These are the best women in the world, and when you watch them fall on a downhill, it’s a little bit concerning when you’re standing in the start,” Australia's Rosie Fordham said.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton and Tommy Lund, editing by Ed Osmond)
