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World championships delayed again

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ARE, Sweden -- The world skiing championships were further delayed on Monday when the men's super-G race was called off again because of bad weather.

The race will now be run just before the women's super-G on Tuesday, after strong winds battered the Olympia course in Are, and thick cloud cover limited visibility.

"It was the right decision," International Ski Federation (FIS) president Gian-Franco Kasper told reporters.

"The wind and fog made it very difficult to have a race. The weather forecast is good for tomorrow (Tuesday) and it was better to wait."

A women's super-G originally scheduled for Sunday has already been arranged for Tuesday.

There is plenty of snow in this Swedish resort but snowfalls, wind and fog over the past three days mean the championships have yet to stage a race.

There are several days in the fortnight with no races, which leaves scope for rescheduling.

Colder temperatures and clearer skies are forecast from Tuesday and organizers are still confident the program of 11 races will be completed. They may struggle, however, if the bad weather continues for much longer.

The world championships have not been staged in Sweden since 1954 and the weather has proved a huge let-down for the town which has organized a full program of events for the thousands of spectators.

Swedish skier Patrik Jaerbyn agreed that the course was unsafe to race.

"It's lethally dangerous to ski the way it is now," Jaerbyn said. "It's too windy and the surface is in too bad a shape."

The men's race was originally scheduled to open the championships on Saturday, and bad weather also forced the women's super-G to be postponed on Sunday.

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