Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

Winter Weather Delays Women's GS
Monday, Feb. 9, 1998 — Mount Yakebitai, Japan

Mr. February from the Japanese 1998 Fedex Calendar. Niiiice package.

After seeing some of the best male racers in the world lose their battle with the course in the men's races yesterday, the women may benefit more than they know by the postponement of Giant Slalom.

"We woke to brutal winds, poor visibility and 15cm of fresh snow," Zoner extraordinnaire, Brent Brookler reported live from Nagano early this morning. The postponement meant access to some of the women who will be competing, including the lone competitor from New Zealand, Pam Bell, who shed some light on the reason for the lack of Kiwi representatives in these Games.

Where Have All the Kiwis Gone? Lone New Zealand Racer Pam Bell [click to zoom] [Click to Listen]

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Yesterday, the men's course, shrouded in fog with intermittent flurries, became less of a race against the clock than a competition to see who could simply make it the whole way down.

So what are our athletes doin' when they can't board — playing with the monkeys. According to the US Olympic Committee, members of the team, including GSer Sondra Van Ert and halfpipe riders Shannon Dunn and Michele Taggart spent Monday (JST) frolicking with the famous snow monkeys near the Kanbayashi snowboard park.

"I hope my parents aren't still there waiting..." — Lisa Kosglow (USA), GS Racer

Aside from Van Ert, the US has three other racers in the field of 31 for the first-ever women's snowboarding giant slalom with Rosey Fletcher (Girdwood, Alaska), Lisa Kosglow (Boise, Idaho) and Betsy Shaw (E. Dorset, Vt.)

"I didn't want to hang out in the lounge," the US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) reported Kosglow as saying. "We've been playing a lot of video games. Actually, this doesn't make me any more nervous because I've been distracted by playing video games," she said.

When we woke up this morning and looked at the weather, we knew it would be rough. I know the weather can change quickly, but it would have had to have been by the grace of God to pull this off. I hope my parents aren't still there waiting," Kosglow said.

The race has been rescheduled for Tuesday at 9 a.m. (first run) and 11:30 a.m. (second run) The starting time was delayed twice on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and then until 12 noon before the official postponement.