written by Peter Quartuccio
photos by Carter Farmer
The United States has a combined 8 Paralympic Medals in Alpine Skiing, and 3 of them belong to Alana Nichols. Her performance today at Whistler Creekside earned her a Silver Medal in the Women’s Sitting Super-G event. Prior to today, both of her medals were of the Gold variety, but she finished 2.79 seconds behind Claudia Loesch of Austria, who finished first. Another American, Laurie Stephens, had a strong showing, finishing a mere 0.13 seconds out of a medal spot. (Germany’s Anna Schaffelhuber won the Bronze.) In the Men’s Sitting Super-G, Japan claimed two of the three medal spots, with Akira Kano winning Gold and countryman Taiki Morii taking Bronze. German Martin Braxenthaler won the Silver. Christopher Devlin-Young had the best showing among U.S. Men in the event, but like fellow American Stephens, his 4th place finish was oh so close to a Paralympic Medal. Even closer, in fact, than Stephens: Devlin-Young was only three-tenths of a second behind Morii. Tyler Walker of the U.S. had an interesting run: despite having a spill, he still managed to have a faster time than seven other skiers who completed the Sitting Super-G.
For more coverage of the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, please visit www.WheelchairSportsFederation.org
