Sochi skiers strip to shorts keep cool

Cross-country skiers more used to wearing hats and thermals on Friday stripped down to the bare minimum to stay cool as temperatures remained hot at the Sochi Olympics. The tough men's 15 km classic time trial saw apparel not usually associated with skiing, with many competitors wearing just T-shirts instead of the normal long-sleeves while others even bared their legs. Norway's Chris Andre Jespersen took the highly unusual step of wearing shorts as well as a T-Shirt, cutting a dashing figure in the snow with his bright red outfit and bare legs. Britons Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young meanwhile cut their racing tights below the knees to bare their calves. Temperatures at the Laura centre where the cross country events are held rose to 12 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit). However organisers have expressed confidence that there is more than enough snow in place and the warm weather should not impact the race timetable for the Games. Meanwhile, high temperatures forced several freestyle skiing training sessions to be cancelled or rescheduled at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. With the temperature reaching 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit), the International Ski Federation (FIS) cancelled the first ski cross training. "Given the high temperatures and thermal stress on the ski cross course, it is not wise to train today," said FIS Race director Joseph Fitzgerald. The women's aerials competition is still scheduled to start at its original time of 17:45 (13:45 GMT) on Friday, but men's aerials training on Saturday and Sunday has been rescheduled to start later at 17:00 (13:00 GMT). Source: AFP