Fitzpatrick takes gold in World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup

Menna Fitzpatrick took the coveted gold medal in the Women’s Giant Slalom Vision Impaired competition at the World Para Alpine Skiing World Cup in Spain to add to her silver on Monday.

The GB star, who was guided by Jen Kehoe, was second at the halfway mark but a stellar second run meant she comfortably beat off the competition with a time of 1:58.75.

Austrian Veronika Aigner - guided by Elisabeth Aigner - achieved a silver medal as she finished half a second behind, and Australian Melissa Perrine took the bronze under the guidance of Bobbi Kelly.

The victory meant Fitzpatrick notched her second medal of the tournament, having been pipped to the gold in the same event by Perrine on Monday.

The 2018 Paralympic Slalom champion recorded a DNF in Tuesday’s race, but was delighted to bounce back and top the podium on Thursday.

After the win, she commented: “It was tough. It was quite a fight but it was really good fun.

“We just said to each other - it’s the last GS race of the season, so let’s go out there and put everything into it.”

Kehoe added: “You never know if it’s going to go to plan - we just decided to be quicker off the edge and attack it more and that’s what we did.”

Fitzpatrick has enjoyed a decorated career at the age of 20, having taken four medals in the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics last year.

In the other women’s events on Thursday France’s Marie Bochet comfortably took the Giant Slalom Standing while Momoka Muraoka carried on her golden record with another victory in the Giant Slalom Sitting.

In the men’s events, Slovakian Marek Kubacka put in three excellent runs to take gold in the Giant Slalom Vision Impaired contest, while Frenchman Arthur Bauchet and Dutchman Jeroen Kampschreur took the Standing and Sitting titles respectively.