PARALYMPICS: Victor is the victor with sizzling mono-ski slalom

PARALYMPICS: Victor is the victor with sizzling mono-ski slalom{mosimage}SESTRIERE, Italy – On the last day of competition at the IX Paralympic Winter Games, Park City’s Stephani Victor earned her first medal of the Games with a gold in the sitting slalom.

Victor’s time of 1 minute, 48.54 seconds put her almost a full second ahead of silver medalist Daila Dameno of Italy.

‘I knew I couldn’t afford to be cautious’ Victor said. ‘In the second run, I just let it go. I let the ski run and skied freely.’

Victor came into the Games having recently won the sitting slalom World Cup title. Despite a crash in a warm-up run earlier this week that prevented her from running the downhill event, Victor came back strong to secure the sitting slalom top podium spot.

U.S. teammate Lacey Heward skied aggressively to a fourth-place finish, just missing the bronze medal in the final run of her racing career.

‘I looked out at the start, and that’s the most incredible feeling’ Heward said. ‘Your heart is pounding, your guts are twisting in knots. You have no idea what is going to happen in the next minute. That unknown is the most brilliant feeling.’

First-time Paralympian Laurie Stephens, who won gold medals in both the sitting downhill and super G as well as silver in giant slalom, finished seventh in Sunday’s race.

Downhill silver medalist Chris Devlin-Young led the U.S. men in the sitting slalom with an eighth-place finish.

‘I gave it my all and did my best’ Devlin-Young said. ‘For the second run, I tried to go out there and ski the slalom that I know I’m capable of skiing. Maybe someday I’ll teach someone else to run the slalom I know I can run.’

Sunday’s first-place finish from Victor brought the American alpine medal count to eight.

– USSA

IX PARALYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Sestriere Borgata, Italy March 19, 2006

Women’s slalom (sitting)
1. Stephani Victor (Park City, Utah) 1:48.54
2. Daila Dameno (ITA) 1:49.53
3. Tatsuko Aoki (JPN) 1:51.39
– – –
4. Lacey Heward (Boise, Idaho) 1:53.56
– – –
7. Laurie Stephens (Wenham, Mass.) 1:54.89

Men’s slalom (visually impaired)
1. Nicolas Berejny (FRA) 1:26.84
Guide: Sophie Troc
2. Eric Villalon (ESP) 1:27.16
Guide: Hodei Yurrita
3. Gerd Gradwohl (GER) 1:27.26
Guide: Karl Heinz Vachenauer
—
9. Andy Parr (Rockland, Maine) 1:34.83
Guide: A.K. Walker (Waterville Valley, N.H.)

Men’s slalom (sitting)
1. Martin Braxenthaler (GER) 1:23.19
2. Harald Eder (AUT) 1:26.78
3. Juergen Egle (AUT) 1:28.39
– – –
8. Chris Devlin-Young (Campton, N.H.) 1:33.36
– – –
14. Tyler Walker (Franconia, N.H.) 1:35.49
– – –
16. Carl Burnett (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) 1:36.98
– – –
=17. Roger Lee (Winter Park, Colo.) 1:38.30
=17. Martin Krivos (SVK) – 1:38.30

19. Gerald Hayden (Fresno, Calif.) 1:38.97

Did Not Finish 1st Run:
Nick Catanzarite (Winter Park, Colo.) 2:16.35