— The Associated Press

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Warm, wet weather has turned this mountain into a mushy mess, wiping out training runs and postponing the opening women’s Alpine race.

Hardly ideal conditions at any competition, let alone the Winter Olympics, right? Try telling that to Lindsey Vonn. She loves the way things are going. Every delay provides extra time for her badly bruised right shin to rest and heal.

”I’m lucking out pretty heavily because of all the cancellations,” the American said Friday. ”Normally I would be disappointed. But for my shin, I think, this is the best possible scenario.”

The first women’s event, Sunday’s super-combined, was put off because racers will not have had a chance to train on the downhill course. Thursday’s training run was scrapped after two racers started, and practice was canceled altogether for Friday and today.

Much was unknown, including when the women will train and when the super-combined will be raced.

Such schedule disruptions might distress plenty of people — from athletes to spectators, from Olympic and skiing officials to TV types — but certainly not Vonn.

The two-time overall World Cup champion has been pegged as a medal contender in all five Alpine events, and an overwhelming favorite for golds in the downhill and super-G.

But that was before Vonn revealed Wednesday that she was hurt last week in pre-Olympic practice. She fell during a slalom training run and slammed her right boot against her leg.

For a week or so, it was a struggle simply to put on her ski boot and stand still in it — forget about trying to speed down a slope — and Vonn raised the possibility that she might not be able to compete at all.

THE COURT of Arbitration for Sport rejected Brazil’s application to enter the Olympic women’s bobsled event only days after permitting an Australian team to join an expanded competition.

The three-member CAS panel ended the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation’s request for its team to join the competition in place of the Irish team, or to expand the competition.

The International Olympic Committee already had expanded the competition to 21 teams to allow Australia to join, as the top-ranked team from Oceania, and retain the Irish team.

The CAS earlier ruled that the international bobsled federation did not apply its qualification rules properly when it excluded the Australian team of Astrid Loch-Wilkinson and Cecilia McIntosh, who contended they deserved an Olympic berth as the top-ranked team in Oceania.

IN 2002, AFTER dislocating his right hip for the third time in his career, U.S. Olympic skier Daron Rahlves spent two months recovering. This time he’s measuring his recovery in weeks.

Rahlves, 36, was injured in a crash during his opening skicross race at the Winter X Games on Jan. 31, just days after he was selected to represent the United States in the Olympic debut of skicross.

Competition begins Feb. 21 at Cypress Mountain. But Rahlves remains at home in Truckee, Calif., going through hours of therapy each day, hoping he can strengthen his hip enough to compete in his fourth games.

”There is a glint of hope and a chance I could pull it off,” Rahlves said. ”It’s going to come down to the day before.”