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A blizzard caused Olympic mayhem in the alpine skiing men’s slalom competition on Monday.
Over half the competitors — 52 out of 96 — failed to finish their first run in the rough conditions, with skier after skier either falling or missing a gate.
Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath survived his first run before an uncharacteristic mistake in his second run blew the competition wide open.
He had a massive 59-second lead after the first run and was in great position to claim the gold medal, but straddled a gate on his second run to destroy his chances at glory.
McGrath chucked his poles in frustration and, after walking away from the course, laid down in the snow with his hands on his head.
His collapse opened the door for Switzerland’s Loïc Meillard to take home the gold medal.
“It’s amazing,” Meillard said. “It’s been long days, a lot of expectations about what you want to achieve, a lot of pressure on yourself.”
Austria’s Fabio Gstrein won silver.
“The feeling is great, really nice and cool,” Gstrein said.
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“I was in the start gate and in my head was ‘I have to go with a green light over the finish line and then there is a medal’. It was a really nice feeling when I saw the green light coming up. It’s perfect.”
Despite McGrath missing out, Norway was still represented on the podium with Henrik Kristoffersen winning bronze.
Kristoffersen was self-critical afterwards, though.
“I didn’t think it was enough to be on the podium, and for sure not enough to win, and it wasn’t anyway,” Kristoffersen said.
“I didn’t feel good the whole run, to be honest. But to get a bronze medal on a bad day is not a bad day.”
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