Canadian Para alpine pair finding their stride with 50 days until Paralympic Winter Games

VEYSONNAZ, Switzerland – With 50 days until the start of the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, Canadian world champions Mac Marcoux and his guide Jack Leitch appear to be finding their stride in time to peak in the Korean mountains.

Marcoux, from Sault Ste Marie, Ont., and Leitch, from Calgary, won the silver medal in the men’s slalom for visually impaired on Thursday, their second podium finish this week. They were also second on Monday in the giant slalom. Tuesday’s second GS and Wednesday’s slalom were cancelled due to poor weather conditions.

Giacomo Bertagnolli of Italy and his guide Fabrizio Casal won the gold medal with a two-run time of one minute and 29.69 seconds. Marcoux and Leitch, quadruple world champions last season, followed in 1:31.88 and Yon Santacana Maiztegui of Spain with Miguel Galindo Garces were third at 1:35.83.

There were three Canadians in the top-10 in the women’s standing race with Alana Ramsay of Calgary fourth, Mollie Jepsen of Vancouver seventh and Erin Latimer of Toronto eighth.

Marcoux established himself as one of the brightest young stars in Para alpine skiing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games. At age 16 (the youngest member of the team), he and his guide at that time, Robin Fémy, raced to a gold in the giant slalom and bronzes in both the downhill and Super G. 

The next stop on the circuit is January 21-26 in Tignes, France followed by the World Cup Final February 7-11 in Kimberley, B.C. The Paralympic Winter Games are March 9-18 in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Full results: https://www.paralympic.org/alpine-skiing-world-cup-2018/veysonnaz/results/info-live-results/asur18/eng/zz/engzz_alpine-skiing-daily-competition-schedule.htm