History Sports Alpine skiing Contents A history A Paralympic sport How para alpine skiing has evolved Rules Governing bodies Regional clubs Alpine skiing, a history Skiing is thought to have been around since ancient times as a vital part of life in colder countries, with ski fragments discovered in Russia from 8000-7000 BC. Modern downhill skiing developed in the 1850s and was made popular by Sondre Norheim, from Norway, who won the first national Norwegian skiing competition in 1868. This popularity spread across Europe and the USA with the first slalom event held in Switzerland in 1922 and the first world championships held in 1931, also in Switzerland. The first Olympic alpine skiing event was held in 1936 and events were gradually added over the years. Despite the lack of snow in the UK, it was a British man, Arnold Lunn, who first wrote the rules for downhill skiing and who organised the first alpine skiing events in Mürren, Switzerland, in 1931 and 1936. His son, Peter Lunn, went on to captain the British Winter Olympic team in 1936. Para alpine skiing became increasingly popular when injured servicemen returned from World War II and wanted to continue skiing as a sport. This hailed a systematic development in adapting the sport to cater for those with injuries and the first official documented event for disabled skiers was held in 1948 in Badgastein, Austria, where 17 athletes took part. Alpine skiing, a Paralympic sport Alpine skiing was part of the first Paralympic Winter Games at Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, in 1976. Athletes competed in slalom and giant slalom and three distances in nordic skiing. Downhill was added to the Paralympic programme in 1984 in Innsbruck, Austria, and super-G was added in 1994 at Lillehammer, Norway. Sit-skiing or mono-skiing, was introduced as a demonstration sport at the Innsbruck 1984 Paralympics and became a medal event at the Nagano 1998 Paralympic Winter Games. The British team have competed in alpine skiing in every Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Michael Hammond was the first Paralympic athlete to represent Great Britain in 1976 in the men’s giant slalom. In 1992, 11 British Paralympic athletes competed in alpine skiing events, the most athletes the UK has ever entered. Alpine skiing events at the Paralympic Winter Games 1976 Örnsköldsvik, Sweden - 28 events in slalom, giant slalom, 12 countries and 78 athletes (64 men and 14 women) participated. 1980 Geilo, Norway - 22 events in slalom and giant slalom, 15 countries and 132 athletes (98 men and 34 women) participated. 1984 Innsbruck, Austria – 56 events in downhill, giant slalom, slalom and alpine combination, 21 countries and 194 athletes (150 men and 44 women) participated. 1988 Innsbruck, Austria – 44 events across downhill, giant slalom and slalom. Sit-skiing/mono-skiing as a classification, 21 countries and 203 athletes (167 men and 36 women) participated. 1992 Tignes/ Albertville, France- 48 events across downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom, 23 countries and 212 athletes (165 men and 47 women) participated. 1994 Lillehammer, Norway – 66 events in downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom, 24 countries and 220 athletes (175 men and 45 women) participated. 1998 Nagano, Japan – 54 events across downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom, 26 countries and 229 athletes (179 men and 50 women) participated. 2002 Salt Lake City, USA- 53 events across downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom, 30 countries and 193 athletes (144 men and 49 women) participated. 2006 Turin, Italy- 24 events across downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom (the reduced number of events reflects the reduction to 3 classification categories, visually impaired, sitting and standing), 30 countries and 190 athletes (146 men and 44 women) participated. 2010 Vancouver, Canada – 30 events across downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super-combined, 37 countries and 191 athletes (135 men and 56 women) participated. 2014 Sochi, Russia- Standing snowboard cross event introduced. 32 events across downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, super combined and snowboard cross. (All events had 3 classification categories; sitting, standing and visually impaired, except snowboard cross which only had the standing classification category), 40 countries and 214 athletes (158 men and 56 women) participated. British alpine skiing medal winners 1984 Innsbruck, AustriaJohn Watkins - bronze in men’s alpine combination LW 5/7. 1992 Tignes/ Albertville, FranceRichard Burt - silver in men’s giant slalom B3 and bronze in men’s super-G B3Matthew Stockford - bronze in men’s giant slalom LW10, bronze in men’s super-G LW10 and bronze in men’s downhill LW10. 1994 Lillehammer, NorwayJames Barker - bronze in men’s downhill LWXI.Richard Burt - bronze in men’s super-G B3 and bronze in men’s giant slalom B3Matthew Stockford - bronze in men’s super-G LWX 2014 Sochi, RussiaKelly Gallagher and guide Charlotte Evans - gold in women’s visually impaired (VI) super-G (first gold medal for any British alpine skier at either Olympic or Paralympic Games.Jade Etherington and guide Caroline Powell - silver in women’s visually impaired (VI) downhill, silver in women’s VI slalom, silver in women’s VI super combined and bronze in women’s VI super-G. Kelly Gallagher and her Guide Charlotte Evans with gold medals in the alpine skiing super-G event, Sochi 2014. Image credit: Paralympics GB Disclaimer -Some information from earlier Paralympic Games (i.e. 1960-1988) such as relay and team members are not presented in the IPC source data. Therefore, final results, medal standings and derived statistics may not be complete.Important note on the definition of participants: Only athletes that appear in the official results books in the section of final results are included in the database and counted towards participant statistics. Data for 2014 and 2016 are accurate. Statistics for previous Games are under review by the IPC.Important note on competition partners: Competition partners eligible for medals are included in the combined participant statistics until 2014. Statistics for 2016 and beyond consider athletes with an impairment and their competition partners separately. How para alpine skiing has evolved Since 2006 World Para Alpine Skiing (previously known as IPC Alpine Skiing) has been developing activities and initiatives to increase the amount of people practising the sport with development camps for young skiers with the ultimate goal of increasing participation in the Paralympic Winter Games. Since 2014 World Para Alpine Skiing have also introduced a range of youth races to improve competitive participation. Technical advances have included the development of sit-skis since the 1960s which have been continually modified to become lighter, easier to manoeuvre and more advanced. Rules of para alpine skiing There are five disciplines in which Paralympians can compete in alpine skiing; downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-G and super combined. Team events have been introduced to Olympic alpine skiing, but not yet to Paralympic alpine skiing. Currently there are three classifications in which they can compete (visually impaired, sitting, standing), enabling athletes with different impairments to compete against each other. A results calculation system takes the different impairments of competing athletes into consideration when calculating the final time of competitors so that those with different impairments can compete fairly in the same category. Skiers in the visual impaired category can be guided through the courses with sighted guides who pass back instructions to the athlete. Equipment can also be adapted to cater for individual needs of athletes, like single-skis or sit-skis. Downhill Athletes ski down a steep slope (altitude drop from start to finish from 450-800m), passing through a number of gates during the course. Missing a gate leads to disqualification and final scores are based on times ranked in ascending order. Slalom This event is shorter than the downhill event with a shorter vertical drop (140-220m), however a greater number of gates that the athlete has to pass through. Missing a gate leads to disqualification and athletes complete two runs on different courses, with the times from both being added together. Total times are then ranked in ascending order. Giant slalom The giant slalom is similar to the slalom but is a longer course with less gates, although the vertical drop is bigger (300-400m). Athletes complete two runs on different courses on the same slope, with times added together to give a total final time. These times are ranked in ascending order to determine the final positions. Like in the slalom event, if an athlete misses a gate they are disqualified. Super-G The super-G, like the downhill, is a speed event in which athletes complete one run down the course to achieve the best finishing time. The course is shorter than the downhill but with a number of widely set gates that the athlete has to pass through, forcing them to change direction, like in the slalom. Super combined The super combined event requires athletes to complete two runs on two separate courses from either the downhill or super-G and the giant slalom or slalom. The times from both runs are then combined to determine final finishing positions from the ascending order of total times. Most commonly athletes compete in one super-G run and one slalom run. Governing bodies Since 2018 GB Snowsport (GBS) has been recognised as the UK National Governing Body for disabled snowsports by the British Paralympic Association (BPA) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Regional groups The British Paralympic Association has created an online directory, Parasport, where you can search for and find out about sport and physical activity in your area. Disability Snowsport UK also has a wealth of information on ski and snowboarding groups around the country that are accessible and cater for those with a disability, visit their website for more information here. References www.paralympicheritage.org.uk/parasport-organisations www.olympic.org/alpine-skiing-equipment-and-history snowsportengland.org.uk/find_club www.paralympic.org/alpine-skiing/about www.paralympic.org/alpine-skiing/development paralympics.org.uk/sports/para-alpine-skiing www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/43184593 www.skiclub.co.uk/info-and-advice/learning-and-development/skiing-with-a-disability Manage Cookie Preferences