Para Alpine Skiing
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GB Snowsport
Read more about Para Alpine SkiingIntroduction
ParalympicsGB’s skiers helped secure record-breaking performances at both Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.
Our seven athletes and three guides took to the slopes of Rosa Khutor in 2014, winning one gold, three silvers and one bronze medal.
Sport Details
The Rules
Alpine disciplines at the Paralympic Winter Games are downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom (super-G) and super combined. Results are factored to take each athletes’ degree of impairment into account when calculating a time. While there are different factors for the different disciplines in each of the three sport classes, the same factors are used for men and women. Athletes and spectators see the factored time after each run. In all events the winning competitor is the one who, without missing any gates, records the fastest factored time over the course.
Paralympic Alpine Skiing conforms to some of the parameters that have been laid down by the ISF (International Skiing Federation) in terms of the difference in altitude and the number of gates along the course.
Downhill: The most spectacular of the para Alpine skiing disciplines. The vertical drop (altitude distance between the start and finish gates) varies from 450m to 800m, with competitors required to pass through a series of red gates that are used as checkpoints during the descent.
Super-G: Developed in the early 1980s as an event between free downhill descent and the giant slalom. Today, it is much closer in terms of speed and technical features to the downhill discipline. Super-G competitions are held on a slope with a vertical drop variation of 400m to 600m, with the course marked with a minimum of 30 alternating blue and red gates, positioned to enforce changes of direction.
Giant Slalom: Gates are closer than those in the speed events and the vertical drop varies from 300m to 400m. The competition is contested over two rounds using the same slope but with different courses. The starting order in the second heat is created by reversing the first 30 classified places from the first heat or, in some cases, the first 15 classified places.
Slalom: The vertical drop difference can vary from 140m to 220m. The competition is carried out over two heats on the same slope but with different courses, in the same way as giant slalom. The number of gates on the course varies. The slalom requires considerable agility and dexterity since the slopes in slalom competitions are very steep, with thick snow often artificially iced in order to avoid any premature deterioration of the competition surface.
Super Combined: An event which incorporates elements from other events but is itself a standalone event. Contested on a single day, it comprises one run of either downhill or super-G and one run of either giant slalom or slalom. The most common format is one super-G run and one slalom run. The times are combined and a ranking list drawn up.
Eligible Impairments: ataxia, athetosis, hypertonia, impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of motion, limb deficiency, leg length difference, vision impairment.
Description: para alpine skiing is for athletes with physical impairment of the upper and/or lower limbs, and vision impairment. Athletes with all eligible physical impairment types compete against each other and may compete either standing or sitting dependent on the type and severity of their impairment. All athletes with a vison impairment compete with a Guide. There are 20 Sport Classes, 16 for athletes with physical impairment and four for vision impairment.
Sport Class structure:
- LW1-LW4: for athletes with physical impairment in one or both lower limbs who compete standing. Athletes in LW1 have the greatest level of impairment, and LW4 the lowest level of impairment.
- LW5/7: for athletes with physical impairment in both arms and who compete without ski poles.
- LW6/8: for athletes with physical impairment in one arm and who compete with one ski pole.
- LW9: for athletes with physical impairment of both the upper and lower limbs.
- LW10-12: for athletes with physical impairment of the lower limbs and/or trunk and who compete sitting.
- AS1-4: for athletes with vison impairment. Athletes in AS1 have the greatest level of impairment, and AS4 the lowest level of impairment.
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