PYEONGCHANG, South Korea _ The International Ski Federation defended the decision to hold the women's snowboarding slopestyle final Monday at the Pyeongchang Olympics despite high winds that caused a slew of wipeouts.
"The first priority for FIS is the safety of the athletes and FIS would never stage a competition if this could not be assured," the organization said in a statement. "The FIS jury monitored the weather conditions closely throughout the day, including consulting with the coaches, and considered it was within the boundaries to stage the competition safely.
"FIS always aims for the athletes to be able to stage their best performances, which some athletes have expressed was not the case ... but the nature of outdoor sports also requires adapting to the elements."
Several competitors assailed organizers for moving forward with the event at the Phoenix Snow Park won by South Lake Tahoe's Jamie Anderson.
"Honestly, every event I've been at this year there's been a lot of drama about weather, and snow, and flat light, and the safety of everything, which definitely has an important role," Anderson said, "but I think when we all signed up for snowboarding it wasn't always bluebird perfect sunny days like you get in California."
