Around Innsbruck 2012 - Weather Changes, Athlete Excursions at Winter YOG

(ATR) Bright sunny skies and zero precipitation have been the norm during the first five days of competition at these inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

All outdoor competitions including alpine events at Patscherkofel as well as snowboard and freestyle events at Kühtai have taken place as scheduled.

Addressing the media on Tuesday at Patscherkofel, IOC president Jacques Rogge noted: "I think we will continue to have really exceptional Youth Olympic Games. The athletes are absolutely happy and the weather is fine so we cannot ask for more."

That could change over the upcoming days with expected precipitation in the forecast well into next week.

While temperatures will be milder in Innsbruck with light rain and fog on Thursday, snow in the mountains is forecasted and expected to increase come Friday and Saturday. As a result, organizers are considering a possible snowboarding schedule change in Kühtai.

As a precautionary measure due to potential bad weather, the International Skiing Federation and the Winter YOG Organizing Committee decided to add men’s and women’s semi-finals in snowboard slopestyle, and possibly even finals, to Thursday’s originally scheduled morning qualifications.

The move is an attempt to complete the new Olympic event without a hitch before significant snowfall could cause delays or cancellation.

Slopestyle involves riders descending and performing tricks on a specially created course involving kickers, rails, hits and tabletops. Competitors can choose their own route while expressing themselves creatively with a variety of moves.

Judges award points based upon the technical difficulty of the maneuvers and other factors including style and amplitude.

Heavy snow and lack of visibility would not bode well for riders or spectators in this event,also a new addition to the Sochi 2014 program.

The competition jury will make a determination Thursday morning at 8 a.m. – in cooperation with FIS, the IOC and Innsbruck 2012 – based on the latest weather forecast whether the snowboard slopestyle final will be conducted Friday, as originally planned, or rescheduled to take place later Thursday.

Athletes Embrace Olympic Values, "Mountain Awareness"

Taking a break from competition, U.S. cross-country skier Patrick Caldwell was one of about 15 athletes who signed up for Wednesday’s "Mountain Awareness" class, one of the many Culture & Educationprograms offered here in Innsbruck during the Games.

Caldwell, whose father was a four-time Olympian and competed here at the 1976 Games, in addition to his grandfather also being an Olympian, enjoyed the approximately three-hour excursion involving a cog railway ride into the mountains high above the city for team-building exercises such as creating an ice sculpture and riding Tyrolean sleds.

The small group was comprised of athletes from the United States, Belgium and Poland.

"There were really awesome views, we were with fun people and it was a great experience," said Caldwell. "It was about getting to know each other and enjoying the weather up there."

The Culture and Education Program aims to engage and inspire participants to embrace the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect.

Primarily located at the Congress Innsbruck, the CEP is divided into six categories: Arts, Competence, Media Lab, Olympic Youth Festival, Sustainability and the World Mile presented by Dow.

Wednesday’s "Mountain Awareness" program fell under the Sustainability category.

"It’s a really neat experience and opportunity for athletes to get together," said Caldwell about the CEP program. "We’re learning some really cool things through media workshops and today getting to go up on the mountain together and see Innsbruck in a different way."

A wide range of educational and interactive activities are on offer, all with the goal of encouraging athletes to live and share the Olympic values.

There are 27 total CEP activities, one of the most popular being "Meet the Athlete Role Model" where the teenage Olympians can learn from the experiences of past Olympians from the various sports.

"It’s been really cool to meet athletes from all over the world," said Caldwell’s U.S. cross-country teammate Heather Mooney, who also participated in the "Mountain Awareness" program on Wednesday.

"The way the Games are set up, the focus is definitely on getting to know other people instead of only thinking about competing against them, so that’s pretty cool," she added.

Both Caldwell and Mooney are back to competition in Seefeld on Thursday racing in the cross-country sprint freestyle event.

Written and reported in Innsbruck by Brian Pinelli.

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