Para Alpine team wrap up World Champs in Spain

The 2023 World Para Alpine Championships wrapped up in Spain over the weekend with the Australian contingent putting on a strong showing throughout the event.

Despite inclement weather causing three days of competition delays, all races were completed with the Aussie team bonding well and improving throughout the week.

“World Champs was an amazing experience for all,” said Ali Bombardier, Para Alpine Coach. “The wind and snow made for a challenging 10 days of competition, this brought the team together, working to stay motivated and ready to race when the opportunities presented themselves.

“The team became closer and supported each other and we now look forward to a solid training block and World Cup Finals in Italy in March.”

Visually-impaired skier Pat Jensen and guide Ethan Jackson were combining for their first major event in Espot.

After ninth (super G) and seventh (alpine combined) placed finishes to start the Championships, the pair crashed out in downhill training which ruled them out of the final speed event. 

They recovered well to finish seventh in giant slalom but failed to finish their second run of the slalom event.

Competing in front of his family for the first time, Jensen said he learned a lot from the wipeout in downhill training, and how he could get himself off the canvas to keep competing.

“The most important thing is to keep pushing no matter what happens,” said Jensen. “Ethan and I had a pretty bad accident during the downhill training run, but we persevered and pushed past the pain that we were both feeling and still managed to get some decent skiing done in the GS and slalom first run.

“We learned to push through what you don’t think you should.”

Jackson said the week of frustrating weather had an upside with the pair learning to deal with adversity before coming back out to perform.

“We had a long week of just waiting around, not being able to do a lot,” said Jackson. “But we were patient enough to hold through and still compete at a respectable level we were happy with.”

For sit skiers Sam Tait and Josh Hanlon, the Championships brought them slightly different experiences. For Tait, experiencing another top level event was a great experience, while Hanlon was excited to compete in every discipline in Espot.

“It’s been really cool to come back to another major event after the [Paralympic] Games,” said Tait. “My favourite event for World Champs was coming ninth in downhill. It’s my favourite event.”

In addition to his top 10 in downhill, Tait was 11th in super G and 13th in giant slalom.

Hanlon saved the best ‘til last in Spain. In the last event all the Australians competed in at the Championships, Hanlon claimed a sixth-place finish in slalom.

“It was really nice to finish the week with sixth,” said Hanlon. “It’s been awesome to have my first crack at all the events.” 

Hanlon took a pair of 14th places in the speed events, however DNFs in the alpine combined and giant slalom saw him take away an important lesson from the Championships.

“Never underestimate a hill,” he said. “At first the race hill didn’t look to be difficult but it definitely wasn’t easy.”