Para Snowsports - 2024/25 Season Wrap

As the northern hemisphere competition season winds down, we look back at the accomplishments of Australian athletes who have been doing us proud on the global stage.

We start with our Para Snowsports athletes (Para Snowboard, Para Alpine and Para Nordic) who have stood on podiums, made debuts and broken new ground in season 2024/25.

PARA SNOWBOARD 

While Ben Tudhope was flying solo last season on the international scene, he was joined this northern winter by two teammates: a returning Paralympian and an up-and-coming star.

Sean Pollard returned to the international scene following an injury layoff, while Aaron McCarthy announced himself as an athlete to watch.

McCarthy’s season started with a FIS development camp in Manchester, and finished with an appearance at the World Championships.

In between he managed to score podium finishes in both snowboard cross and banked slalom in European Cup events, before a win in the final banked slalom of the season landed him the Europa Cup SB-LL1 Banked Slalom title.

Aaron then made his FIS World Championships debut at Big White, Canada with a 12th in the banked slalom event.

Pollard’s return from injury also saw him take to the snowboard cross track for the first time in five years. The 2018 Paralympian raced well on the European Cup circuit, earning a spot for the final World Cup events of the season. There he scored a pair of sixth place finishes at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a highlight leading into FIS World Championships.

At the World Championships, Pollard was 10th in the SB-UL banked slalom before landing 11th place in the banked slalom.

It was once again Tudhope, unsurprisingly, who was the dominant force on the Australian Para Snowboard Team.

The 2022 Paralympic bronze medallist was rarely off the podium with seven World Cup podiums from nine races. He finished the World Cup season in second place on the Overall SB-LL2 standings, courtesy of second place on both the snowboard cross and banked slalom standings.

Ben finished the season with fifth place at the FIS World Championships in banked slalom before collecting bronze in the snowboard cross event. It was the 25-year-old’s sixth World Championships medal and his fourth-straight World Championships on the snowboard cross podium.

Tudhope now has his sights set on his fourth Winter Paralympic Games in Milano-Cortina next year, having made his debut as Australia’s youngest Winter Paralympian in 2014 as a 14-year-old. 

PARA ALPINE

The Australian Para Alpine Team raced well throughout the 2024/25 campaign finishing the season with some career best results.

Josh Hanlon started the season in good form, scoring a a best-ever fourth place finish in the World Cup slalom at Tignes in December,  however even bigger things were in store for the 27-year-old.

At the Feldberg World Cup in January, Hanlon broke through for his first World Cup podiums with two bronze medals from three events. Skiing in rainy “very Australian conditions”, Josh’s racing in Germany showcased a fantastic step up in performance.  

Josh finished his best-ever World Cup season fifth on the slalom standings, seventh in super G and seventh overall in the Men's Sitting category.

Georgia Gunew & Ethan Jackson’s second season of World Cup racing was strong once again. The pair were incredibly consistent, only recording one DNF throughout the World Cup season and capturing ten top ten finishes as they continued to build their teamwork and gain experience on the World Cup tour. 

The highlight of the campaign was a case of saving the best for last, with the team recording their second and third career World Cup podiums, one each in giant slalom and slalom at the final event of the year in Veysonnaz, Switzerland.

The FIS Para Alpine World Championships in Maribor, Slovenia was incredibly tough on organisers with officials forced to cancel the speed and combined events due to poor conditions. Disappointing for athletes who had prepared for this week of competition in February, the team switched gears to focus on the technical events. Unfortunately Hanlon did not manage to record a finish while Gunew and Jackson were seventh in giant slalom and sixth in slalom.

PARA CROSS COUNTRY

Australia could be set to field its first Para Cross Country athletes at the Winter Paralympics for the first time since 2010 with two athletes taking part in international competition for the first time.

Taryn Dickens (Visually Impaired) and Matt Brumby (Sitting) have both been plying their trade in the two Para Nordic sports of biathlon and cross country in an attempt to qualify in both at Milano-Cortina 2026.

At the Val di Fiemme World Cup in February, Brumby finished 39th in the Sprint and Taryn (with Guide Heather Wiederkehr) finished 13th. An amazing opportunity for both athletes to be able to be at the Test event and experience the Paralympic competition venue a year before the Games. Matt then headed to Toblach for the FIS Para Cross Country World Championships, where in the 10km Interval Start Classic, he finished 31st.

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Over the coming weeks snow.org.au will continue to wrap the international season as we breakdown the 2023/24 campaigns in Freestyle Skiing, Snowboard Cross, Park & Pipe, Cross Country & Ski Mountaineering, Alpine Snowboard and Alpine Skiing & Ski Cross.