BBC make announcement on Winter Olympics chaos as Team GB match delayed
The British team are set to compete in a grudge match against the host nation.
Team GB's grudge curling match with host nation Italy has been delayed as weather problems continue to cause chaos at the Winter Olympics. Heavy snowfall has seen several events at the Milano-Cortina Games delayed, or in some cases postponed entirely.
Even though curling is an indoor sport, the Team GB women's squad have been impacted by the problems, as the snowfall delayed their arrival to the venue. As such, the clash against Italy was pushed back 25 minutes, with the scheduled start time moved to 1:30pm GMT.
Presenter Hazel Irvine informed BBC One viewers of the delay, saying: "I'm hearing that the British women are just arriving from the Cortina Curling Centre, they've come in from the athletes' village. The match has been delayed by 25 minutes, because it's a few kilometres up to the athlete's village, and believe me, the roads are stacked with snow at the moment and there's not much moving around Cortina.
Former Olympian, Chemmy Alcott, added: "I have been here every year for the last 25 years and we rarely get conditions like this. We rarely get snow coming and sticking on the roads and even the locals are struggling to drive. So it's a bit carnage out there, but this is the athlete's life, you've got to be prepared that when they say go, you can be heightened with your focus, that your body is just channelled into deliver."
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It was confirmed with a social media post from World Curling, who said on X: "UPDATE | The women's final round-robin session will be delayed until 14:30 CET this afternoon due to weather influencing the arrival of the teams. #curling #MilanoCortina2026."
The weather has caused problems throughout week two of the Games, with the women's snowboard slopestyle event having been postponed on Tuesday. The snowfall in Livigno meant the course was unplayable, despite the best efforts of officials, who had spent hours shovelling the excess snow away.
An post from the Olympics read: "Weather conditions have forced the postponement of the first and second rounds of men's and women's aerials qualification at the Livigno Snow Park. A new date and time are yet to be announced."
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