No Skiers Able to Reign With Conditions Like These

HAKUBA, Japan —  Another day of Alpine skiing was wiped out Saturday when rain forced the postponement of the men’s super-giant slalom and women’s downhill.

“It gets to the point now where you just have to laugh,” said U.S. skier Chad Fleischer, who is entered in the super-G.

In fact, not a single Olympic Alpine event has gone off on schedule.

The plan now is to race the super-G on Sunday and run the women’s downhill and women’s combined downhill Monday.

Of course, plans changed here as quickly as the weather.

After learning of Saturday’s postponement, Fleischer said he was getting out of town.

“I’m going down to Nagano to watch a hockey game and forget about sitting up here and banging my head against the wall,” he said.

There is a concern now that the rain will adversely affect course conditions.

“They’ll just have to ‘slip’ it to death,” U.S. men’s Alpine Coach Bill Egan said of the procedure used to groom the course. “We have to hope for some cold weather.”

To date, only three Alpine events have been completed: the women’s super-G and the men’s downhill and combined downhill.

If the weather ever clears, American Picabo Street will try to win her second gold in the downhill after winning the super-G.