Several powerhouse members of Canada's cadre of female Paralympic alpine ski racers ended the 2010 Games as they began them, winning three medals one of each colour in Saturday's (March 20) super combined races, the final set of events on the Whistler Creekside slopes for these Games.
In the super combined race, which made its Paralympic debut at these Games, North Vancouver standing skier Lauren Woolstencroft closed out her remarkable tour-de-force performance by winning her fifth gold medal in five races in Whistler. Vancouver's Karolina Wisniewska once again joined her towering teammate on the women's standing podium by speeding to a bronze medal in the two-run race, achieving the same positions they earned in their first race of the Games on Monday (March 15).
Visually impaired skier Viviane Forest of Edmonton made good on her goal of reaching the podium in all five of her races by winning a silver medal with guide Lindsay Debou of Whistler with a hard-fought performance in Saturday's super combined event. Forest and Debou also opened the Games by speeding to silver in their slalom race last Sunday (March 14), and fought determinedly through an exhausting week of racing while Forest dealt with a painful pulled groin muscle.
One might think these would be ecstatic after such a sparkling week of racing, and they were. But after weather-related schedule changes forced them to ski four races in four or five days to end the Games, the medallists also sounded exhausted.
Woolstencroft, who absolutely dominated the women's standing race with a time 12.15 seconds faster than that of silver medallist Solene Jambaque of France, said the full meaning of her dominant performance five races, five gold medals, five times the Canadian anthem rang out in medal ceremonies thanks to her hasn't set in yet.
"I just feel kind of surprised still. It's so much more than my expectations," said Woolstencroft, who is now a 10-time Paralympic medallist.
A flag- and sign-waving audience roared as she swept across the finish line in dominant fashion to claim her final victory, and she said she's looking forward to celebrating with her supporters and teammates, though she wasn't quite sure yet how they would do it.
"I'm super tired right now I just hope to celebrate with my team, because they've really pushed me to get here, and obviously my friends and family that have been here the whole time," Woolstencroft said.
Forest looked and sounded pretty exhausted after her week of digging deep to deliver on her goals of reaching the podium five times and winning at least one medal, all of which she did despite the injury. She too said the full import of her achievement will probably arrive later.
"I don't really have words right now. I think it will take a little while to totally realize. When I'm sitting lonely at home, I'll say, 'Hey, I did it,'" said Forest, who already has two gold medals from goalball competitions at summer Paralympic Games to her credit.
Forest, who has just four per cent vision, still chased Debou through the Whistler courses at speeds upwards of 100 kilometres per hour. Despite her injury, the duo was still going for gold on the last day, in the super combined event that called on them to ski a super G run and then a slalom run to determine the winners with the total times.
Slovakia's Henrieta Farkasova and guide Natalia Subrtova earned their second gold medal of the 2010 Games by beating the Canadians in both runs, edging out Forest and Debou by 1.33 seconds for the top spot, with bronze medallists Danelle Umstead and husband/guide Rob Umstead of the U.S. 14.14 seconds behind the winners.
"In the super G I think we went pretty full-tilt I think with the slalom, we just didn't maybe have a little bit of that extra spunk that we needed to make it down, but we were both fighting and trying to nail it. We wanted the gold today," Debou said.
Wisniewska, meanwhile, was delighted and a bit surprised to win her second bronze medal of the 2010 Games, which makes her an eight-time Paralympic medallist.
"I was so nervous before the second run. This morning I was really relaxed, because I didn't think I had a chance in the super combined. So I had a great run in super G and ended up third, so then suddenly I was like, 'Oh, OK, there's a chance.' So that actually got me a bit nervous. I was surprised how nervous I was, because I have a lot of experience," Wisniewska said.
"I can't believe it right now, I'm really, really happy."
Closing out a difficult week in the Games, Canada's Chris Williamson and guide Nick Brush posted the fastest slalom-run time in the men's visually impaired race to reach a tie for fourth place. Williamson, the top-ranked visually impaired skier on the World Cup circuit this season, sat sixth after his super G run but delivered his strong slalom run to prove how he can ski.
Slovakia's Jakub Krako and guide Juraj Medera won their third gold medal, and fourth podium finish, of the 2010 Games in the super combined race.
Germany's titans, standing skier Gerd Schonfelder and sit-skier Martin Braxenthaler, both looked delighted to deliver gold medals in their races in front of the cheering crowd of more than 3,500 people. Schonfelder marked his 22nd Paralympic medal with the victory in what he's said will be his final Games.
Whistler skier and current Squamish resident Matt Hallat could not complete his super G run in the men's standing race, and Vernon sit-skier Josh Dueck battled the tough slalom course and just barely missed fully completing his second run.
Toronto's Melanie Schwartz finished 10th in the women's standing race in her debut Paralympics.
Stephani Victor and Alana Nichols made it a dual-medal day for the U.S. in the women's sitting race, winning gold and bronze to bracket Austria's Claudia Loesch.
