SEOUL (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – Gangwon Province faces heavy snow, impacting outdoor competitions and planned events during the ongoing Winter Youth Olympics. Meanwhile, Seoul braces for a cold wave with temperatures expected to sharply drop on Monday and Tuesday.
Changes to the Alpine skiing schedule were made, pushing the men’s super-G final from 1.30 pm to 2 pm in Jeongseon due to challenging weather conditions of snow and wind.
“There may be additional changes depending on weather conditions, so please check the competition schedule regularly,” the website said.
All of the scheduled indoor events, including the men’s luge singles and women’s luge doubles, and most outdoor competitions like the biathlon single mixed relay and women’s super-G Alpine skiing proceeded as scheduled.
The international sports competition for athletes aged 15 to 18 opened in Gangwon Province on Friday, with over 1,800 athletes from around the world participating. It continues until February 1.
Side events that were to be held outdoors were impacted by bad weather.
Short track speedskater Lee June-seo’s two-hour lesson, scheduled to start at 11. a.m. at Gangneung Olympic Park, had to be cancelled, according to All That Sports, a South Korean sports marketing agency. The agency manages the Play Winter Zone at five festival sites, offering interactive events and activities on the sideline of the Youth Games.
As of 7 am on Sunday, the city of Gangneung had accumulated approximately 44 centimetres of snow since Thursday, with Samcheok and Yangyang recording 38.8 cm and 25.8 cm, respectively, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.
At 8 am Sunday, the provincial government downgraded its emergency mode to Level 1 from Level 2, which had been activated Saturday, as the intensity of rain and snow diminished.
To remove snow from roads and enhance traffic flow, the province mobilised 212 pieces of equipment, 303 personnel and 4,000 tons of deicer Sunday. Since the snow began falling through Sunday, 953 snow pieces of equipment and 12,237 personnel had been deployed, along with 6,000 tons of deicer.
The weather agency expected snow to continue throughout the afternoon on Sunday.
The ongoing edition of the event is the largest Winter Youth Olympics, featuring 1,803 athletes from 79 countries participating in 81 events across seven sports and 15 disciplines. As the host country, South Korea has the largest delegation of 102 athletes, followed by the United States with 101 athletes and Germany with 90 athletes.
