Days until opening ceremony: 11.
Snowfall: No new snow in Nagano city, but 5.9 inches fell on the men's downhill course. That left a cover of 7 inches in Nagano city, and 80.7 inches on the downhill course.
Update: The International Olympic Committee seized the press credentials for the games from a Japanese newspaper Sunday after it published stories and photographs on the rehearsals for the opening ceremony. The paper violated the terms of the coverage, which is not to report on the ceremony until the Feb. 7 opening.
Going for the gold: Austrian Thomas Sykora declared himself a top Olympic favorite after narrowly beating Hans-Petter Buraas of Norway yesterday to win a World Cup slalom -- the second Austrian victory in two days.
Pub Date: 1/27/98
