Skier wipes out photographers in giant slalom crash

Swiss skier Lara Gut has crashed out of the first leg of the women's giant slalom, in an incident that saw her veer into photographers at the side of the course.

No one appeared to be hurt, however.

Gut seemed to catch one of the early gates with the tip of a ski, causing her to fall, slide down the mountain out of control and slam into several photographers, who were trying to jump out of her path.

Gut wasn't the only skier to crash on Thursday, with Patricia Mangan and Leona Popovic also suffering nasty stacks.

Croatian skier Popovic was lucky to escape a broken leg after she also looked to get her ski caught awkwardly before her leg buckled and she was flipped onto the ground.

The alpine skiing program was thrown into chaos on Wednesday with the postponement of a third event, the women's slalom, because of strong winds.

"Due to the current weather situation, today's slalom is postponed to Friday, February 16," the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced.

The two legs of the slalom will be raced either side of the men's super-G.

Strong winds buffeted the Rainbow course in Yongpyong, forcing organisers to delay the start then call it off altogether.

It means another delay for defending slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin's opening appearance in South Korea, the American star having seen the giant slalom postponed on Monday.

The GS was rescheduled for Thursday, with the two legs to be raced either side of the men's downhill.

The blue riband downhill was also postponed Sunday because of high winds and an unfavourable weather forecast which saw the cancellation of Monday's downhill training for the men's combined event.

So far the only race to have gone ahead is the men's combined on Tuesday, Austrian Marcel Hirscher winning his first Olympic gold on the Jeongseon course.

with agencies