Riyadh Season Launches Its First 'Saudi Snow Blast' Activities

The Saudi "SnowBlast KSA" activities began at the Kingdom Arena on the northern outskirts of Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi "SnowBlast KSA" activities began at the Kingdom Arena on the northern outskirts of Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Riyadh Season Launches Its First 'Saudi Snow Blast' Activities

The Saudi "SnowBlast KSA" activities began at the Kingdom Arena on the northern outskirts of Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi "SnowBlast KSA" activities began at the Kingdom Arena on the northern outskirts of Riyadh. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

As part of the Riyadh Season activities, the Saudi "SnowBlast KSA" activities began at the Kingdom Arena on the northern outskirts of Riyadh, SPA said on Tuesday.
The event, the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to take place on snow areas weighing more than 500 tons, shared by snow slopes for freestyle skiing, areas for games and family activities, and events accompanying the championship. Within the four-day event, the Saudi Snow Blast Cup, in which more than 30 Olympic and world champions in the sport of freestyle skiing are participating, will be launched tomorrow.
The activities also include family activities such as playing with snowballs and making snowmen, in addition to theatrical and light shows, roaming shows, and an area dedicated to food.
The organization of the Saudi Snow Blast Cup comes as one of the international sports activities with a wide audience that aims to attract professionals and amateurs of freestyle skiing sports this month amid a group of distinctive winter experiences to create world-class sports and entertainment activities for the residents of the Kingdom and visitors to the Riyadh Season.
The cup events will witness great competitions between freestyle skiing professionals, which will be the focus of attention of those interested in this type of winter events all over the world, and will contribute to making the Riyadh season a hub for hosting events of wide global interest, and giving visitors an exceptional experience in the Riyadh winter.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.