Rising temperatures at Beijing Paralympics add challenges for athletes, organizers

From dealing with freezing conditions just a few weeks ago, organizers at the Beijing Winter Paralympics are sweating over rising temperatures that have brought with them unexpected challenges for athletes.

The risk of the artificial snow melting meant that the super combined events in Alpine skiing, originally scheduled for Tuesday at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre, had to be held a day earlier.

"The technical event is held in the afternoon and the snow surface is starting to melt," said China's Liu Sitong, who won bronze in the women's super combined sitting event on Monday.

"I think it's good enough that everyone finished the run safely and successfully. The snow course is not ideal. We rarely ski on snow in this kind of condition. On this slope, a single mistake can affect the result noticeably."

Matteo Fleischmann, the guide for Austrian Johannes Aigner who took silver in the super combined visually impaired class, said: "Today it was really, really warm and they put a lot of salt into the slope. It was really a big difference compared to the super-G slope."

While its use is hardly a novelty, Beijing is the first Olympic host city to employ 100% artificial snow.

The organizers said on Tuesday that they had emergency plans in place in case of extreme weather, which may include the production of more snow.

"The change in weather is a natural law and we need to respect nature," organizing committee (BOCOG) vice president Yang Shu'an told reporters.

"The snow sports competitions at the Games have been very smooth... at the same time, we have to be flexible and find solutions. Before the Games started, we made full preparations."

Other athletes, however, have been left impressed with the conditions, especially