Jepsen, Hamel look to maintain momentum at inaugural World Para Snow Sports Championships

Mollie Jepsen and Sandrine Hamel hope to maintain their impressive starts to the Paralympic Winter Games season at the inaugural World Para Snow Sports Championships which starts Thursday and runs until January 23 in Lillehammer, Norway.

The event will mark the first time in history the Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country and Para snowboard world championships are held in the same city, at the same time. 

Initially scheduled to take place in Lillehammer in early 2021 but postponed due to the pandemic, the world championships is now also a great appetizer for those events before the Paralympic Winter Games take place March 4-13 in Beijing.

Since her four-medal breakthrough at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, Para alpine skier Mollie Jepsen has undergone some tough challenges including a battle with Crohn’s disease and injuries, but she seems to have regained her magic touch this season.

The 22-year-old from Vancouver, born missing fingers on her left hand, started the 2021-22 World Cup season last month with six medals in six races including a gold in the giant slalom in the last race before the Christmas break.

The other seven Para alpine team members in Lillehammer are Alana Ramsay and Kurt Oatway, both of Calgary, Frederique Turgeon of Candiac, Que. and Alexis Guimond of Gatineau, Que., all members of the 2018 Paralympic Games team. There’s also Michaela Gosselin of Collingwood, Ont. and Katie Combaluzier of Toronto, who both earned their first career World Cup medals this season, and Brian Rowland of Merrickville, Ont.

Hamel kicked off her Para snowboard World Cup season with two bronze medals in November in the Netherlands. She is joined by her 2018 Paralympic teammate Alex Massie of Barrie, Ont., as well as national team rookies Lisa DeJong of Saskatoon and Tyler Turner of Calgary.

The competition also features Para nordic skiing (cross country and biathlon) but the Canadian Para nordic team has decided to skip the event and pursue their training at home.

A total of 87 sets of medals are to be handed out during the 12-day competition. This includes 36 medal events in Para alpine skiing, 18 events in Para biathlon, 20 in Para cross-country, and 13 in Para snowboard. 

In Para alpine, competition starts with the men’s and women’s downhill January 14 and continues January 15-16 and January 19 to 23.

In Para snowboard the first final is also January 14 with the dual banked slalom, followed by the snowboard cross and team events on January 21-22.

For more information, please visit the event’s official website at Paralympic.org/lillehammer-2021.

Live streaming of the competition will be available via the International Paralympic Committee’s YouTube channel.