Paralympic Alpine Skiing

Para-alpine skiing

Talan Skeels-Piggins from Great Britain in the first run for the Men's Slalom (Sitting), at the Winter Paralympics 2010 in Vancouver, Canada.
Highest governing body	International Paralympic Committee, International Ski Federation
First played	1967
Characteristics
Team members	No
Mixed gender	No
Type	Outdoor
Equipment	skis, sit-skis or mono-skis, poles or outrigger skis, and boots, helmet, goggles
Presence
Paralympic	Part of the Paralympics programme since 1976 Winter Paralympics

Paralympic alpine skiing is an adaptation of alpine skiing for athletes with a disability. The sport evolved from the efforts of disabled veterans in Germany and Austria during and after the Second World War. The sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee Sports Committee. The primary equipment used includes outrigger skis, sit-skis, and mono-skis. Para-alpine skiing disciplines include the Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Super Combined and Snowboard.

Para-alpine skiing classification is the classification system for para-alpine skiing designed to insure fair competition between alpine skiers with different types of disabilities. The classifications are grouped into three general disability types: standing, blind and sitting. A factoring system was created for para-alpine skiing to allow the three classification groupings to fairly compete against each other in the same race despite different functional skiing levels and medical problems.

Alpine skiing was one of the foundation sports at the first Winter Paralympics in 1976 with Slalom and Giant Slalom events being held. Different disciplines were added to the Paralympic programme over time. The 2010 Winter Paralympics para-alpine skiing events were held at Whistler Creekside. The disciplines at Whistler included Downhill, Super-Combined, Super-G, Slalom and Giant Slalom.

Skiing as a sport for people with disabilities traces its origins back to the Second World War, which produced large numbers of wounded soldiers. In Germany, Franz Wendel, an amputee who had lost a leg, successfully attached a pair of crutches to short skis. Sepp "Peppi" Zwicknagel, an Austrian veteran who had lost both his legs to a hand grenade, taught himself to ski and eventually became a ski instructor at Kitzbühel, founded a division of the Austrian Ski Association for handicapped skiers. By 1947, annual races were being held in Austria. Ludwig Guttman, a key figure in the history of paralympic sport, helped organise ski events. In the United States, Gretchen Fraser began teaching skiing to amputees in army hospitals. By the 1960s, a number of organisations had been founded. For a long time, disability skiing was restricted to amputees, but in 1969, blind skier Jean Eymere, a former ski instructor before he lost his eyesight, began a skiing program in Aspen, Colorado for blind skiers. The first international competition, the World Disabled Alpine Championships, was held in France in 1974.