Weather woes plague Sochi events

Thick fog wreaked havoc with mountains events at the Winter Games on Monday, but the weather will be of no concern when Meryl Davis and Charlie White bid to become the first Americans to win the Olympic ice dance title later in the day.

After a week of uninterrupted sunshine, conditions have changed radically among the peaks of the Caucasus.

The men's biathlon 15km mass start event, already carried over from Sunday evening, was postponed again and will be held on Tuesday, while the men's snowboard cross competition was also moved to Tuesday.

Organisers are sensitive to safety concerns after a series of injuries at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park over the weekend.

The worst accident involved Russian ski cross athlete Maria Komissarova, who underwent surgery for more than six hours on Saturday to attach a metal implant to her spine.

The 23-year-old was flown to a specialist clinic in Germany on Sunday where she will have a second operation, according to Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko.

On the 10th full day of sporting contest, the men's biathlon mass start and the snowboard cross competition were postponed until Tuesday, as the fog set in.

Svindal exits Games

Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal was heading home without competing in his final two races at the Sochi Games after failing to win a medal, failing to live up to high expectations after he had shown great form so far this season. And Olympic Nordic combined gold medallist Eric Frenzel of Germany is set to miss Tuesday's large hill event because of a virus, officials said.

Down in Sochi, excitement was building ahead of the free dance section of the ice dance competition at the Iceberg Skating Palace.

Davis and White raised the bar with Sunday's spectacular short dance display to a medley of songs from 'My Fair Lady', putting them in sight of Olympic history in one of the most popular events of any Winter Games.

The twice world champions are now one routine away from becoming only the fourth non-Russian couple to win the Olympic ice dance title. "It felt awesome. When we were going out, we said, 'Let's do it for each other,'" said White. "We're letting it flow."

Host Russia goes for gold in the first bobsleigh medal of the Games at the Sanki Sliding Centre, where Alexander Zubkov set the pace at the halfway stage in the two-man event.

After China's women failed to turn their dominance of freestyle aerials into Olympic gold, it is the turn of the men with Liu Zhongqing and Qi Guangpu expected to fight it out with defending champion Alexei Grishin of Belarus for the title. Unlike the last two Olympics, where Austria easily won the team ski jumping event, the competition looks likely to be a tightly contested affair. Germany, Japan, Norway and Slovenia all pose a serious challenge and could leave the Austrians empty-handed.

Cheshire discharged

 British freestyle skiing halfpipe medal contender Rowan Cheshire was released from hospital on Monday after spending the night under observation for concussion she sustained in a fall in training.

The teenager fell on her face at the Extreme Park halfpipe on Sunday and was knocked unconscious for several minutes before being carried away on a stretcher in a neck brace.

"Cheshire will be discharged today (Monday) after the doctors were happy with her progress," said a Team GB statement.