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By Ben Lisson in Pyeongchang

Winds wreak havoc at Winter Olympics, Coady blames gusts for injury

In another day of windy conditions in Pyeongchang, Olympic women's slopestyle athletes crashed one by one as they competed for gold.

Strong headwinds appeared to affect the athletes, as the conditions continued to cause headaches for organisers.

Several events were delayed or postponed for safety reasons in gusts of up to 80kph.

It shouldn't be a surprise. The Pyeongchang area is dotted with wind turbines.

But it was the windy conditions injured Australian snowboarder Tess Coady believes denied her a debut Olympic appearance and has Australian officials asking questions about safety for athletes.

The 17-year-old reigning junior world champion crashed out on the final jump of her first slopestyle training run on Sunday, rupturing an ACL.

An hour after Coady's crash, the women's qualification run was postponed due to unsafe conditions.

"Got picked up in the wind on the bottom jump in practice and my acl was not a big fan!" she said on Instagram.

So could the injury have been prevented? That's what the Australian Olympic committee would like to know.

Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman will urge Australia's Ski and Snowboard Association to make enquiries to the international body in light of the accident.

"I think that is something that definitely needs to be reviewed," he said.

He acknowledged variable conditions were normal in winter sports, but still urged officials to review the circumstances of the accident.

"I don't think anybody could say for sure [the wind] is what caused this accident, but I definitely think it needs to be reviewed," Chesterman said.

A spokeswoman for the International Ski Federation (FIS) said the women's slopestyle training session was conducted immediately after the men's final, which had been successfully run that morning.

"There's no set speed that if the wind hits, an event is cancelled," the spokeswoman said.

"There are jury personnel all around the course and they take a number of factors into consideration. Athlete safety is always of paramount concern."

While there's no aggrieved finger-pointing from the AOC, Chesterman was hopeful similar injuries could be prevented in future.

"She was looking forward to her day so much and obviously she is devastated, and we are feeling very much for her," he said.

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