Paralympic Alpine Skiing Australia's Paralympians celebrate success at the Vancouver Games
22 Mar 2010
Australian Alpine skiers have achieved outstanding success at the Vancouver Paralympic Games, which ended on a high note with Cameron Rahles-Rahbula winning his second bronze in the men’s combined downhill and slalom event at Whistler Creekside on 20 March.
Australian Institute of SportParalympic Alpine skier Rahles-Rahbula claimed bronze in the combined event after producing the fastest run in the slalom stage of men’s combined event, recording an overall time of 2 minutes 13.85 seconds.
It was a strong comeback for the 26-year-old Rahles-Rahbula after finishing in 8th place in the first run in the downhill stage of the men’s combined event.
Germany’s Gerd Schonfelder won the gold (2:11.84), finishing ahead of Frances Vincent Gauthier-Manuel in second place (2:12.04).
It was Rahles-Rahbula’s second medal after claiming bronze in the men’s slalom event on 15 March.
It was Australia’s fourth medal at the close of the Vancouver Games, contributing to an overall tally of one silver and three bronze. This is double Australia’s medal tally at the Turin 2006 Paralympic Winter Games.
In other great results for AIS Paralympic skiers, Marty Mayberry won silver in the men’s downhill event (LW3 standing class) on 18 March and Jessica Gallagher claimed bronze in the women’s slalom event (B3 vision impaired class) on 14 March.
To cap off an incredible Games for the Melbourne-based skier, Rahles-Rahbula was also given the honour of carrying the Australian flag into the closing ceremony.
‘It’s such an honour to be up there representing the team and something I’ve always wanted to do,’ Rahles-Rahbula said.
‘To be the flag bearer at the end of the Games means you’ve had a pretty good Games and to now be among the names who have carried the flag at the Paralympic Closing Ceremony is fantastic.’
The AIS works in partnership with the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) to deliver the Paralympic Alpine Skiing program. This program currently supports ten athletes through leading coach and sports science expertise and world-class training facilities.
