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Friday, Feb. 8, 1998 — Hakuba, Japan Twenty thousand anxious and excited spectators came out to Hakuba to witness the Men's Downhill only to be turned away due to poor visibility on top the course and snow on the bottom.
"It's really too bad," the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) reported the US Men's Coach Bill Egan as saying. Egan spent over two hours with the other coaches waiting in position for the race to begin.
"It wasn't too bad earlier, but the fog was forming very rapidly. We could have dealt with the snow, but the concern was that even if it was clear at the top that you might send a skier into a new fogbank mid-course, and that's a significant safety issue," he was reported as saying. The postponement was apparently good news for American Kyle Rasmussen (Angels Camp, Calif.). Rasmussen has been nursing a bad back and now gets an extra day of rest. "Frankly, this isn't the worst thing that could have happened for Kyle," Egan said. "He was feeling much better today, but this gives him another entire day of rest and therapy to get ready." The postponement, the USSA reported, was a frustration for all of the racers. "I think the older guys are more experienced with this, but it's a big disappointment for me," said first-time Olympian Jason Rosener (Breckenridge, Colo.). "I was ready for today, I slept well last night, but it's a part of our sport. I'll go back and get some rest and prepare for tomorrow. I'm excited," he was reported as saying
New Alpine Schedule
— Hans and Brent, Zone Team East, adopting new religions for The Mountain Zone
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