Tyler Turner posts sixth place finish in banked slalom at Paralympic Winter Games

Photo: Philippe Nadreau

CORTINA, Italy. Tyler Turner of Campbell River, B.C., was the top Canadian Saturday in the Para snowboard banked slalom placing sixth in the men’s lower limb 1 event (SB-LL1) at the Paralympics.

Noah Elliott of the U.S. was the fastest on both runs with a best of 58.94 seconds earning him the gold. Daichi Oguri of Japan was second in 59.02 and Mike Schultz of the U.S. third in 1:00.05.

Turner, the bronze medallist in the snowboard cross last Sunday, was sixth on both his runs. He clocked 1:02.40 on the first and improved to 1:00.66 on the second.

‘’That is the most fun I had riding banked slalom in a long time,’’ said Turner, third in the event at the 2022 Beijing Games. ‘’This was as good a course we’ve had since Beijing perhaps even better.

‘’I’ll take that, result aside.’’

Turner is one of two double leg amputees in the event.

‘’I’m in a big disadvantage in banked slalom because I have to switch from edge to edge so often,’’ he said. ‘’It’s kind of awesome knowing that.  I get this underdog status that I don’t have in snowboard cross and I can go out there and be free with no stress.’’

Chase Nicklin of Port Alberni, B.C., at his first Games, was 11^th.

Other Canadian banked slalom results: Sandrine Hamel of St-Sauveur, Que., was 11^th in the women’s event while Philippe Nadreau of Blainville, Que., and Alex Massie of Barrie, Ont., were ninth and 10^th in the men’s SB-LL2.

‘’I made some errors that I wish I had avoided,’’ said Nadreau, at his first Games. ‘’I really enjoyed this experience, and I’m really excited about the next Games. I look forward to training hard and putting myself in a better position next time.’’