Weather conditions disrupted the para Alpine skiing at the Winter Paralympics on Thursday as warm temperatures meant that, even with an earlier-than-planned start time, the artificial snow at the Yanqing National alpine Skiing Centre was melting as athletes attempted the technically difficult giant slalom course. Temperatures had been forecast to rise to as high as 23C (73F).
Austria’s 16-year-old Johannes Aigner secured his second gold and fourth medal overall of these Games in the men’s visually impaired class, finishing 1.68sec ahead of the defending champion, Giacomo Bertagnolli of Italy. The final two runs of Aigner and Bertagnolli pushed Britain’s Neil Simpson into fifth, meaning he could not add to the two medals he has won in Beijing.
