Weather starts to smile on Canada, gold eludes

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Rains eased on Sunday after scuttling the first weekend of Olympic alpine skiing and officials were confident racing would begin at last on Monday, while France took two golds in Nordic Combined and biathlon.

The turn in the weather was welcome in Vancouver where misfortune has haunted the Games. Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, died after flying off the track into a pillar during a training run on Friday. Warm, wet weather has hampered competition and delayed Canada's prospects of winning its first gold medal as host.

Organisers scrapped a women's downhill training run scheduled for Sunday and the women's super combined was pushed back to Thursday.

But race officials were confident that Monday's scheduled men's downhill, the blue riband event of the Winter Olympics postponed from Saturday, will go ahead. Rain at Whistler had eased off by mid-morning and colder temperatures are forecast for the coming days.

"We are still more than convinced that we will deliver a race tomorrow, 10.30 start," men's race director Guenther Hujara told reporters.

In the first luge medal competition since the tragedy, German World champion Felix Loch appeared to have the men's gold in the bag at the Whistler Sliding Center, hailed before the Games as the world's fastest course but now a shortened track.

But to increase track safety, International Luge Federation (FIL) and Games organizers, despite saying the course was safe, moved the men to the lower women's start.

The women's start was moved lower still, prompting grumbling from Germany's Natalie Geisenberger that the competition was turned into a "kids' race."

Gold continued to elude Canada, with the Czech Republic's Martina Sablikova winning the women's 3,000-meter speed skating competition as big Canadian hopes Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen faded and Kristina Groves mustered enough speed only for bronze.

Jason Lamy Chappuis captured one of France's two gold medals on Sunday, putting in a magnificent performance to win the Nordic Combined individual normal hill event.

Lamy Chappuis, fifth after the morning's jumping session, started 46 seconds behind the leader but whittled down the difference and in the end just pipped American Johnny Spillane at the finish line of the 10km cross country race. Vincent Jay had earlier won France's first gold in the 10km biathlon sprint.

MONKEY 1, CANADA 0

The Canadians have yet to win gold on their home turf despite hosting Games in Montreal and Calgary, and this time hopes were high they would break the curse as early as the first day of competition.

Chris Rudge, chief executive of the Canadian Olympic Committee, dismissed suggestions the pressure will build on the athletes the longer they go without winning gold.

"I think it's a bigger issue among all of you over coffee, or beer or wine," Rudge told reporters. "For us, no. It's not pressure."

With the women's speed skaters done on Day Two of the Olympics, Canadian hopes rested on results from the men's moguls.

On Cypress Mountain, Alexandre Bilodeau, Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau and Vincent Marquis will look to dethrone reigning Olympic moguls champion Dale Begg-Smith, a Vancouver native who now competes for Australia.

Canada poured more than $110 million into "Own the Podium," a programme designed to put Canada top of the medal standings -- including a good number of gold -- and was expecting a quick return on their investment.

Games chief John Furlong said last week: "We'd really like to get that monkey off our back."

But the drought extended on Saturday when U.S. moguls skier Hannah Kearney snatched victory from Canada's Jenn Heil on the last run of the night in the women's freestyle.

"Score at the end of Day One: Monkey 1, Canada 0," quipped a columnist in the Toronto Globe and Mail on Sunday.

(Editing by Jon Bramley)