Canada’s Sandrine Hamel opens World Cup season with bronze medal

LANDGRAAF, Netherlands (Sportcom) – Sandrine Hamel made a successful return to the Para snowboard World Cup circuit on Monday as she won the bronze medal in the LL2 (lowerlimb 2) banked slalom event at the indoor venue.

After a raceless 2020-2021 season, the St-Sauveur, Que., rider ranked third in her two runs. Her second run time of 43.04 seconds was the best of the two and that counted as the final result.
Lisa Bunschoten of the Netherlands took the gold in 39.87 seconds followed by China’s Nianjia Hu in second in 40.61.

’I’m very satisfied,’’ said Hamel, 24, born with a double major scoliosis. ‘’I haven’t raced in a year and half, so it was a little hard to set goals. There were more entries than usual here because it was also a classification event. I’m really happy with my day and to have reached the podium.’’

Hamel placed fifth in snowboard cross and banked slalom at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. 

In the men’s LL1 event, double leg amputee Tyler Turner of Calgary was an impressive fourth in his World Cup debut improving his time to 39.35 on his second run. Chris Vos of the Netherlands won the gold in 37.69 ahead of two Americans Mike Schultz (38.04) and Noah Elliott (38.07).

Turner was injured in a sky diving accident in 2017 and is vying for a first Paralympic Games participation in Beijing.

‘’An awesome day of racing,’’ Turner posted on Instagram. ‘’So crazy how fast and solid everyone is. I am super stoked to execute my game plan and have it be good enough for fourth place!’’

A Europa Cup event was also held at the venue and Saskatoon native Lisa DeJong, a left leg below the knee amputee, won the silver medal in the LL2.

Competition continues Tuesday with a second banked slalom race.