Overnight, one Southern Highland paralympian became a world champion and dominated in all of her events.
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Australia’s newest World Champions, Melissa Perrine together with sighted guide Bobbi Kelly, claimed the gold medal overnight at the World Para Alpine Skiing Championships in the Women Super Combined.
Perrine and Kelly cleaned up at the World Championships, picking up four medals from four starts including gold, two silver and a bronze.
The World Championships medal haul marks an outstanding 12 months for Perrine, who last year took home two bronze medals at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Winter Games.
Heavy snowfall delayed competition for two days at Sella Nevea, meaning Perrine and Kelly had two finals to contend in the one day.
While the pressure was on, Perrine and Kelly showed how their new partnership is prospering taking silver in the Women’s Super-G and following that up with gold in the Women's Super Combine.
“We backed up out of the Super-G run and put it together for the slalom and managed to come away with first place, so pretty happy,” said Perrine after being crowned the World Champion.
Following the silver earlier in the day, Perrine said her and Kelly knew what they needed to focus on heading into the final event.
“Solid skiing – we know we can put together a solid slalom performance so we stripped it back to basics, focused on our communications, our connection and the fact that we know we can ski well together,” she said.
“Going four from four is pretty great, it cements our partnership and we’re looking forward to the rest of the World Cup season.”
Perrine and Kelli’s record from the 2019 World Para Alpine Championships is impressive and includes:
- Gold - Women's Super Combine Vision Impaired
- Silver - Women's Super-G Vision Impaired
- Silver – Women’s Giant Slalom Vision Impaired
- Bronze -.Women’s Slalom Vision Impaired
Fellow Southern Highlander, Sam Tait finished sixth at the downhill event at Sella Nevea.
“I came into this race series with confidence and nothing to lose. I wanted to prove to myself that my training is paying off and also wanted to make my mark on the para circuit and I definitely did that,” Tait said.
“Finishing tenth in Giant Slalom was amazing and I had a lot of confidence going into the speed events.
“With only one downhill training run I was feeling very nervous at the start gate but I just had to trust myself and trust my inspection and go for it.”
Sam Tait’s world championship results.
- -GS 10th
- - Downhill 6th
- - Super G DNF
Unfortunately Tait crashed two gates from the finish in the Super G event.
“I was having the run of my life and at the last timing split I was only 2.39 seconds behind first place,” Tait said.
“I am very disappointed that I didn't finish but I am taking away the positives of my run knowing that I can push it and be competitive with the best in the world.”
The competition overnight wrapped up the 2019 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships, with Aussie athletes now turning their focus to the World Cup circuit.
The Para Alpine Skiing Championships kicked off the World Championships season for Australia’s snow sport athletes, with action now underway in Utah at the FIS World Championships for Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski.
