12 Days of Triumph: Sandrine Hamel glides into spotlight at Para snowboard worlds

For this holiday season, we will be celebrating some of our favourite sport memories from throughout the year. Canada’s Para athletes achieved a lot in 2019, and we will be remembering one performance each day for 12 days. 

She cross trains in boxing so it should be no surprise that Sandrine Hamel is also a fighter when it comes to Para snowboarding.

That determination continued to shine through in 2019 as she reached new heights capped by a double silver medal performance at the world championships at the end of March in Pyha, Finland. 

In Pyha, she was runner-up in both the snowboard cross and the banked slalom for her first career world championships medals. She also collected three podium finishes on the World Cup circuit last season and has launched the 2019-20 campaign with four medals in four World Cup races.

That consistency in her performances is what Hamel wanted to accomplish in 2019. Now the logical next step, the toughest of all, is to one day be number-one in the world. 

Born with a double major scoliosis, she also suffered a paralyzed right leg during corrective surgery. She has worked hard on her leg strength in the off season with the goal to gain some ground on Dutchwoman Lisa Bunschoten, who is still dominating the sport in the SB-LL2 class. 

At the training centre in Bromont this past summer she also worked at a simulated start gate to improve her starts for the real races.

‘’The work I’ve done this summer is going to help in the long term,’’ she said. 

Based on this fall’s results, the improvements are coming faster than expected.

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12 days of Triumph: women’s wheelchair basketball team