ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Cross-country skiers plowed
through slushy snow wearing t-shirts on day five of the
Beijing Winter Paralympics Wednesday as spring-like weather pushed temperatures well above
freezing.
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The warm spell caught some athletes off guard on the largely
man-made snow at the Zhangjiakou cross-country event where six gold medals were
up for grabs.
Competitors in the
Olympics last month had battled blizzard
conditions and a brutal wind chill, with some events postponed because of the
weather.
This time it was the opposite problem.
Cross-country skier Birgit Skarstein, who competes in the
women's sitting category, likened the weather to July back home in
Norway as
temperatures in nearby Zhangjiakou city nudged a balmy 17 degrees Celsius (63
Fahrenheit).
Up on the slopes temperatures were about 10 degrees cooler,
but still well above freezing as the artificial snow began to melt.
"It was really sucky conditions out there, you could
feel the skis being drawn into the ground," she told AFP.
"You pull and you feel like you're stuck in glue,"
said Skarstein, who raced in short sleeves.
"It was really slushy," she said, adding at times
she felt like her exhausted arms would fall off. "These kinds of
conditions draw your energy out of the body."
For Canadian visually impaired cross-country skier
Brian McKeever, 43, who won his 15th Paralympic gold medal, the conditions proved
advantageous.
"Honestly, I think for us it's probably an advantage
(because my guide Russell Kennedy and I) don't have as much pure speed and
power as some of the younger guys," he told AFP.
"This is more about finesse."
Fellow Canadian
Natalie Wilkie won the women's standing
category — helping her country climb to second spot on the medals table with
seven gold and 16 podium finishes, to overtake Ukraine.
French gold medalist Benjamin Daviet, who won the men's
standing event, said the conditions also worked in his favor.
"It was really warm weather, but the snow was better
for me," he told AFP.
Paralympians recalled that they had endured similar warm
weather at
Pyeongchang in 2018 and Sochi 2014.
With more unseasonable weather ahead in the coming days in
the Chinese capital, organizers will tweak the schedule including bringing
Saturday's snowboarding forward a day because of a "high risk of rainfall
and snow melting".
Organizers told AFP that, along with strong winds, "the
temperature is projected to be higher than that in the same period of previous
years".
"We have formulated corresponding emergency plans for
these weather challenges," they said in a statement, such as increasing
the amount of artificial snow on slopes where there is sun and warmer
temperatures.
‘Grind fest'
American
Aaron Pike, who competed in a t-shirt, said the
cross-country track was lightning fast for the qualifying round but was getting
slower and slower.
It was becoming a "grind fest", he said.
"I was honestly hoping it would still be winter out
here," Pike told AFP.
"It's slowing everyone down. For people with less
function, they're not using their abs, they're not using their back, they're
not throwing their body into all the pull strokes, they are just using their
arms. “
"When it's slow like this they're going to suffer a
little bit more for sure."
At the wheelchair curling there were dramatic scenes during
Canada's win against Britain when one player fell from his wheelchair and had
to be taken off the ice on a stretcher.
"David Melrose has been taken to hospital for a medical
assessment," a Paralympics GB spokesman said in a statement, adding that
Melrose was conscious.
He received initial first aid from the team's nurse and
physio.
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