OLYMPICS: Heavy snow upends freestyle skiing and snowboard schedule

Heavy snow scrambled the Winter Olympics schedule in the Italian town of Livigno on Tuesday as organisers postponed the women's snowboard slopestyle medal event and reworked the start times for freestyle skiing aerials.

Officials decided it was too dangerous to start the qualifying round for women's aerials on Tuesday morning under a steady snowfall, which could limit visibility and impact speed on the steep jump at the Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park. They rescheduled the event for Tuesday afternoon as workers used shovels to keep the buildup of snow on the course to a minimum. Temperatures hovered at a chilly -6 Celsius.

Competitors in the women's aerials qualifying had completed practice rounds just before organisers postponed the event's start. The field includes defending champion Xu Mengtao of China and reigning silver medallist Hanna Huskova, a Belarusian who is competing as a neutral athlete.

Moving the women's aerials forced a postponement in the men's qualifying round that had been set for Tuesday afternoon. A new date and time for the men's event has not yet been announced.

Across town, organisers cancelled the women's slopestyle final scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the Livigno Snow Park and said they would move it to another day. Slopestyle involves snowboarders navigating metal rails and other obstacles.

New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, the defending Olympic gold medallist and reigning world champion, is favourite for the slopestyle final after leading the qualifiers. One of her main rivals is expected to be Japan's Murase Kokomo.

-Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by Ed Osmond/Reuters