• Table of Contents
• Rules
• Categories
• Events
• Equipment
• Location
• History

Overview

Paralympic alpine skiing events are similar to those contested at the Olympic Games. Male and female racers compete in each of the four major alpine disciplines - downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom.

Athletes with lower or upper limb disabilities compete in these events as do visually impaired athletes, who are directed down the course by guides.

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Rules

As in the Olympics, the technical events (giant slalom and slalom) have two heats, while the speed races (downhill and super-G) are a single run against the clock in which the athlete down the course in the fastest time wins.

Athletes compete in standing, sitting or visually impaired events, depending on their disability.

A special scoring system is used to ensure athletes with lesser disabilities within each of these categories do not enjoy an advantage over those with greater disabilities in their event. For example, in a visually impaired race, a totally blind skier isn't expected to perform at the same level as an athlete who has partial vision.

A percentage factor is used to level the playing field. It operates on the same principles as a golf handicap. A skier's actual race time is multiplied by the percentage factor to arrive at the official adjusted race result.

The final race standings are determined by adjusted times, not the raw clock time. Results are calculated using a formula based on the functional abilities of athletes according to disability degree and type.

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Categories

Visually impaired (B1-3):
B1 (completely blind)
B2 (partial sight with little remaining vision)
B3 (partial sight with more remaining sight)

Standing (LW1-9):
LW1 (double above-knee amputees)
LW2 (outriggers skiers)
LW3 (double below-knee amputees)
LW4 (skiers with prosthesis)
LW5-7 (skiers without poles)
LW6-8 (disability with one pole)
LW9-1 (disability with arm and leg after amputation)
LW9-2 (disability with arm and leg – cerebral palsy)

Sitting (LW 10-12):
LW10 (mono skiers – high degree of paraplegia)
LW11 (mono skiers – lower degree of paraplegia)
LW12-1 (mono skiers – lower degree of paraplegia)
LW12-2 (mono skiers – double above-knee amputees)

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Events

Women's Downhill – Standing
Men's Downhill – Standing
Men's Downhill – Sitting
Women's Downhill – Sitting
Men's Downhill - Visually Impaired
Women's Downhill - Visually Impaired
Men's Super-G – Standing
Women's Super-G – Standing
Men's Super-G – Sitting
Men's Super-G - Visually Impaired
Women's Super-G - Visually Impaired
Women's Super-G – Sitting
Men's Giant Slalom – Standing
Women's Giant Slalom – Standing
Men's Giant Slalom – Sitting
Men's Giant Slalom - Visually Impaired
Women's Giant Slalom - Visually Impaired
Women's Giant Slalom – Sitting
Men's Slalom – Standing
Women's Slalom – Standing
Men's Slalom – Sitting
Men's Slalom - Visually Impaired
Women's Slalom - Visually Impaired
Women's Slalom – Sitting

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Equipment

The majority of Paralympic alpine skiers use the same type of equipment used by Olympic skiers.

Skis, boots, poles, goggles, helmets and aerodynamic racing suits are all standard tools. However there is some alpine equipment used solely by disabled athletes, mainly the mono-ski and outriggers.

A mono-ski is a regular ski with a seat attached a binding system used by seated skiers. Mono-skiers use outriggers to help maintain their balance and support while racing down the mountain. The outrigger, a device that takes the place of a pole, is a forearm crutch with a mini ski attached to the bottom.

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Location

Sestriere Borgata: It's a quiet Alpine village 4km from Sestriere, which hosted the downhill events of the Torino Games. The Agnelli family, which runs the Italian automobile manufacturer Fiat, founded Sestriere in the 1930s.

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History

The development of ski sport for disabled athletes can be traced back to the late 1940s, when soldiers returned from the Second World War eager to return to the slopes despite newly acquired disabilities.

The first championships for disabled skiers were held in 1948 in Badgastein, Austria. Seventeen athletes took part.

The profile of the sport grew in 1976, when men's and women's slalom and giant slalom events were included in the first Paralympic Winter Games at Ornskoldsvik, Sweden. Both visually impaired and standing/locomotive disability categories were included in those inaugural Winter Paralympics.

The downhill was added to the roster of events at the 1984 Innsbruck Paralympics, where sit-skiing, which would later become known as mono-skiing, was also brought on as a demonstration sport. Mono-skiing became a full medal event in 1988.

Officials expanded the Parlaympic program to include the super-G at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

In subsequent years, advancements in equipment for disabled athletes have allowed more athletes with a wide range of disabilities to compete in alpine skiing.