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 one, Perrine and Kelli 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 Kelli 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.
“Going four from four is pretty great, it cements our partnership and we’re looking forward to the rest of the World Cup season,” she said.
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
Triple Paralympian Mitchell Gourley also picked up a medal for Australia, claiming bronze in the men’s slalom.
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.
Check out all the results from the 2019 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships schedule.
