14 March 2018
Giant slalom silver makes it three for Fitzpatrick and Kehoe
Three's a charm
There are some days when everything comes together and, for Menna Fitzpatrick and Jennifer Kehoe, Day Five of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games was one of them.
The duo took to the slopes of the Jeongseon Alpine Centre on Wednesday for the women’s VI giant slalom fresh from adding super combined silver to the super-G bronze they won earlier in the week.
And the pair skied with the confidence of double Paralympic medallists as they clocked 1:14.45 in their first run to take second place behind the imperious Henrieta Farkasova and Natalia Subrtova.
But it was their second run that delighted Fitzpatrick most as they shaved 0.56 seconds off their time to cross in 1:13.89 and secure silver – Farkasova and Subrtova taking the gold.
Fitzpatrick and Kehoe jump for joy after winning silver
An Amazing Feeling
“It felt absolutely amazing, you can really feel the acceleration from your skis and your bodies driving you forward, Jen was just going for it and the feeling was so good,” said Fitzpatrick.
“It just doesn’t sink in, when we get to celebrate we’ll have a chance to realise what we’ve done, our families have done all the celebrating for us so far.”
Elsewhere in the field Millie Knight and Brett Wild finished in seventh while Kelly Gallagher and Gary Smith produced some of their best skiing of the Games to clock a combined time of 2:32.79 and take fifth.
“We progressed from the first run to the second, it was a lot better and we had nothing to lose so we sent it a little bit more,” said Gallagher.
“It was fun, I think there is more in us but I definitely set out with the intentions to work really hard, which I did, and overall it went quite well.
“We move on to slalom and taking that mindset, where you know you have nothing to lose and you can put everything to the gate, is going to be key for us because on this course you just have to keep moving.
“It’s hard to want something and for it then not to work out for you, but I suppose having that resilience is really what these Games are about.”
And in the men’s giant slalom there was another strong showing from James Whitley who finished 11th with a combined time of 2:19.81.
James Whitley on his Giant Slalom run
Menna and Jen's day
Ultimately however the day belonged to Fitzpatrick and Kehoe – not that they will be taking the time to enjoy the moment with one more race and one more medal up for grabs.
“The next few days are recovery, that’s the name of this game,” said Kehoe. We’ll go for a swim, ice baths and physio and hopefully be relaxing as much as possible
“It’s taken a lot of time to recover from the downhill, to get back into the swing and things, but we’ve been able to really enjoy this.
“Now we’re just going to give it all we’ve got because we’ve got nothing to lose, we are enjoying life!
“We’re just going to go for it and see what happens.”