RICHMOND, British Columbia (AP) – Problems with various ice-resurfacing machines at the speedskating venue caused a lengthy delay Monday during the men’s 500 meters.
Two machines are used to clean the ice, but the Richmond Olympic Oval was down to just one because of problems with the other. Then the second one acted up after the first 10 pairs completed their opening 500 race.
A third backup machine without Olympic logos was sent out, but it also failed to perform a smooth resurfacing. After an hour-long delay, one of the Olympic logo machines reappeared and seemed to achieve the smooth ice desired by the skaters and coaches.
Officials say they hope to resume competition at 5:30 p.m., which would be 1½ hours after it was stopped.