By Julien Pretot and Lisa Richwine
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO/LIVIGNO, Italy Feb 3 (Reuters) – Heavy snow fell on Tuesday on the northern Italian mountain venues that will host the ski events at the Milano Cortina Olympics, helping to provide a fitting backdrop for the Games.
Livigno, which will stage snowboarding and freestyle skiing, woke up to soft snow on Tuesday which increased in intensity in the morning.
The snow blanketed the Alpine town where the FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) had previously raised concerns over snow levels for the competitions.
“Snow conditions are great here,” said American snowboarder Ollie Martin.
“It’s really nice to see that somewhere there is a lot of snow. Back in Colorado, we are struggling a little bit. It’s nice to see a good amount of snow here.”
SNOW CAN BE A MIXED BLESSING
You can get too much of a good thing, however, and there were concerns that bad weather could disrupt the schedules for the Games where the first preliminary action begins on Wednesday.
Bormio, close to Livigno in the Lombardy region, is due to hold the first official training session on Wednesday for the men’s Alpine skiing downhill race, a blue- riband event that will be held on Saturday.
The weather cleared in Bormio around midday on Tuesday and the sun made a welcome appearance.
Further east in the Dolomites, the resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo also had heavy snow, complicating efforts to put the finishing touches to buildings in the co-host of the Games.
Work was continuing but some of the Games transport services were slowed, again highlighting what is likely to be one of the key challenges for the Games.
Cortina will stage women’s Alpine skiing, curling and sliding events of bobsleigh, skeleton and luge.
(Additional reporting by Alan Baldwin in Cortina d’Ampezzo and Giulia Segreti in LivignoWriting by Keith Weir, editing by Ed Osmond)
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