From dealing with freezing conditions just a few weeks ago, organisers 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.
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." The organisers said on Tuesday that they had emergency plans in place in case of extreme weather, which may include the production of more snow.
Other athletes, however, have been left impressed with the conditions, especially on the slopes that have hosted the speed events at Yanqing.