Blizzard Disrupts Winter Olympic Events in Livigno

Heavy snow scrambled the Winter Olympics schedule in the Italian town of Livigno on Tuesday, as organizers canceled the women's snowboard slopestyle medal event and delayed the start of the freestyle skiing aerials qualifying round.

The aerials event was put on hold while officials monitored the weather, assessing if conditions might improve enough to proceed later. Workers attempted to clear the steep jumps for the competitors at the Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park, where temperatures hovered at a chilly -6 Celsius. Across town, the women's slopestyle competition set for Tuesday afternoon at the Livigno Snow Park was postponed.

New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, the defending Olympic champion and leading qualifier, was among the athletes affected, as was Japan's Murase Kokomo, her main rival. The men's aerials qualifiers are still scheduled for later on Tuesday. Top competitors in women's aerials include China's Xu Mengtao and Belarusian Hanna Huskova, competing as a neutral athlete.