A blanket of fog obscures the bottom of the Paralympic downhill course in Whister on Saturday. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Hopes for an early medal haul disappeared in the fog Saturday as bad weather forced postponement of the alpine ski events on the opening day of competition at the Paralympic Games being held in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.

At least four Canadian skiers were expected to climb on the podium at Whistler Creekside. But a thick blanket of fog crept over the mountain just as the races were set to start.

"Super frustrating," said Lauren Woolstencroft of North Vancouver, B.C., a gold-medal favourite in the women's standing downhill. "Days like today are kind of frustrating because it was always just a 15-minute hold or a 20-minute hold.

"We were stuck at the start. We just hung out. Time passed quickly, doing not much."

Fog, snow and warm weather wreaked havoc on the alpine schedule during the Winter Olympics. Training runs were cancelled and the men's downhill was moved from the opening Saturday of competition to the following Monday.

The fear of more bad weather forced organizers to change Sunday's schedule and rejig the schedule for all alpine events. A slalom race for the visually impaired and sit-skiers will be held instead of the planned super-giant slalom for standing skiers.

Since slalom and giant slalom events can tolerate lower visibility, organizers said, those will now be held earlier in the week. Speed events which require colder, clearer weather will be later.

A large crowd, many waving Canadian flags, waited as the race time was pushed back. Finally, after about 2½ hours, officials decided to scrub the event.

Christopher Williamson of Markham, Ont., said he would rather get the downhill done.

"I'd like to get it over and done with," said Williamson, a potential medallist in the visually impaired class. "It's an outdoor sport. You have to get used to it.

"You have to put the downhill in the back of your mind and just be prepared. Switching from the downhill to a technical event isn't going to be a very big stretch for us. You have to switch a gear and get ready for it."

Canadians win sledge hockey opener

In other events, Canada's sledge hockey team opened defence of its Paralympic gold medal with a 4-0 victory over Italy. The defending champion wheelchair curling team began the tournament with a 7-2 victory in seven ends over Great Britain.

Canada has a team of 53 athletes and 55 support staff competing in five sports. Overall, the Paralympics will draw 1,350 athletes and team officials from 44 countries.

Canada's Paralympic goal is to win enough gold medals to finish among the top three countries. The International Paralympic Committee ranks countries on their gold medal performance.

At the 2006 Paralympics in Turin, Italy, Canada was ranked sixth after earning 13 medals (five gold, three silver, five bronze).

The powerful Russian team showed its muscle in the three-kilometre biathlon pursuit, skiing through heavy falling snow to win eight of the 18 medals, including three gold, in the six races.

Four Canadians managed Top-10 finishes.

Brother acts as guide

Brian McKeever of Canmore, Alta., skiing with his brother Robin who acts as a guide, finished sixth in the three-kilometre pursuit for the visually impaired. Robbi Weldon of Thunder Bay, Ont., and her guide Brian Berry, were sixth in the women's race in the same category.

Mark Arendz, 20, from Calgary, who is competing in his first Paralympics, finished seventh in the three-kilometre pursuit for standing men .

Both McKeevers have been battling illness.

"Obviously we wanted more out of today, but this is our first real good training that we've had in almost 10 days," he said. "We have not had the training volume that we need.

"This is good for us to get a solid race under our belts to help set up the 20-kilometre on Monday, which is one that we really want."

The sledge hockey team led just 1-0 after 40 minutes in the match, played at UBC Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver. The Italians were outhit and outchanced, but goaltender Santino Stillitano kept his team in the game.

Greg Westlake led Canada with two goals. Marc Dorion and Paralympic flag-bearer Jean Labonte also scored.

Coach Jeff Snyder said the defending gold medallists were nervous playing before a loud hometown crowd.

"There was a lot of nervous energy around the game," he said. "We thought we had them prepared for the kind of crowd that we got, but maybe they were a little bit nervous.

"I thought we were just kind of squeezing our sticks and not executing the way we normally do the first couple of periods. But I thought we were better in the third."

The Canadian team will be back in action Sunday against Sweden.

Other Canadian alpine skiers expected to contend for a medal include Josh Dueck of Vernon, B.C., in sit-skiing and Viviane Forest of Edmonton in the visually impaired category.

Boisterous group

Among the crowd at the bottom of the ski hill waiting for the race was a boisterous group of about 50 wearing Sam's Team T-shirts. The throng included aunts, uncles and cousins of sit-skier Sam Danniels, a Toronto native who now lives in Whistler.

Susan Danniels had mixed emotions waiting for her son to compete. "It's exciting and it's frightening and nerve-racking at the same time," she said.

A mountain biking accident in 2005 broke Danniels's back, but didn't break his competitive nature.

"Sam could barely lift his head off the pillow in the hospital, but he said 'I have a goal and my goal is to ski this winter,"' said Susan. "Ever since then his goal has been to be right here today."

Jean-Sebastien Labrie, head coach of Canada's Paralympic ski team, said dealing with weather delays is something the team practises.

"Every athlete has a plan if it goes like this," said Labrie. "They have something to keep their mind away from the nervousness or stress.

"Some read, some stretch. We have very good guys at the start to talk with them to make sure they keep in good spirits."