French and Canadian underdogs victorious in Cortina d’Ampezzo

After the speed events, two slaloms awaited the para-athletes on the famous Olimpia delle Tofane track in Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA). On a relatively short course, female leaders prevailed in the first slalom, while several underdogs emerged in the male categories. It was notably a first World Cup victory celebrated in the French camp for Lou Braz-Dagand, winner of the Men Sitting category ahead of favorites Rene De Silvestro (ITA), second, and Jesper Pedersen (NOR), third.

Once again, the slalom brought its share of DNFs, including Giacomo Bertagnolli (ITA) and his guide Andrea Ravelli (ITA) in the first round of the first slalom, and Johannes Aigner (AUT) and his guide Nico Haberl (AUT) towards the end of the second run. Second behind the leader of their category after the first round of the first slalom, the Canadian duo composed of Kalle Ericsson and Sierra Smith, her guide, managed to stand out to claim victory ahead of Mingyu Hwang (KOR) and his guide Kim Junhyeong (KOR), second, and Hyacinthe Deleplace (FRA) and his guide Roy Piccard (FRA), third. "It was a great day, the track was super good, super mellow, good set. First run, we just came out, gave our best and just went full gas. And then we came to the second run, it was a little bit more technical set, but it was the same goal, just go out and see where we ended up. […] I felt a little bit nervous between the two runs because of where we were sitting, we were in a good spot… but we just came out and did it again," confided Kalle Ericsson (CAN) after receiving the famous squirrel trophy, mascot of Cortina d’Ampezzo. Hungry for another great result, the young Canadian experienced elimination just a few gates from the finish line of the first slalom’s run on Friday. However, the unlucky ones from the previous day did not repeat the same mistake. Johannes Aigner (AUT), accompanied by his guide Nico Haberl (AUT), triumphed ahead of Giacomo Bertagnolli (ITA) and his guide Andrea Ravelli (ITA), and the Polish duo composed of Michal Golas and his guide Kacper Walas, who also didn’t finish on the second course the day before.

Leading the Men Standing category from the first round of both slaloms, Arthur Bauchet (FRA) recorded two new victories ahead of his main rival Robin Cuche (SUI), twice second. Swedish skier Aaron Lindstroem completed the podium on Thursday, but was disqualified the following day. Posting the second-best time in the first round on Friday, Jordan Broisin (FRA) added another podium to the excellent scores of the French team in these Italian races.

After her super-G victory on Wednesday, Ebba Aarsjoe (SWE) had a clear goal of winning the two slaloms that followed in the Women Standing category, and she succeeded. "I love slalom, it’s really fun. It’s not as painful as super-G for me," explained the multiple World Champion and double Paralympic Champion. With total confidence, she left no chance for her competitors. Behind her, Mengqiu Zhang (CHN) and Anna-Maria Rieder (GER) completed the podium in both slaloms.

The same scenario unfolded for the Aigner sisters (AUT), Veronika and her guide Elisabeth, who celebrated two more victories in the Women Vision Impaired category. Behind them, the Slovakian and Italian duos battled for second and third place in the first slalom. Alexandra Rexova (SVK) and her guide Hugo Rybar (SVK) eventually moved up from third to second place, ahead of Martina Vozza (ITA), accompanied by her guide Ylenia Sabidussi (ITA). The next day, the British and Greek duos who hadn’t crossed the finish line the day before step onto the podium again. Menna Fitzpatrick (GBR) and her guide Katie Guest (GBR) finished in second place and Eva Nikou (GRE) and her guide Dimitris Profentzas (GRE) in third place.

This week of racing at home couldn’t have concluded in a better way for the Italian team, who, in addition to the second place of the duo Giacomo Bertagnolli and Andrea Ravelli, celebrated another victory by Rene’ De Silvestro in the Men Sitting category. Leading by 11 small hundredths ahead of his rival Jesper Pedersen (NOR) after the first round, the local hero resisted pressure on the second run by signing the second-best time, allowing him to keep the advantage over the Norwegian, second, and Niels De Langen (NED), third. It’s worth noting that the best performance of the second run was achieved by the surprise winner of the previous day, Lou Braz-Dagand (FRA), who thus climbed from 12th to 7th place.

Finally, Anna-Lena Forster (GER) completed a perfect week by winning the Women Sitting category in each of the races, although momentarily threatened by Wengjing Zhang (CHN), who set the best time in the second run of the first slalom. The Chinese skier finished second twice, once ahead of her compatriot Sitong Liu (CHN) and the next day ahead of Audrey Pascual Seco (ESP). "I think the biggest challenge was the downhill because I saw the Women’s World Cup in the weekend, and they crashed like crazy and I was like ‘Oh my god, I have to go down here’. But it was much better than I thought it would be. So, I’m happy that I have done it and that I have seen it for the Games in 2026. Super-G was very turny, not that easy. […] The slalom… it’s an easy hill for a slalom I think, so you have to go straight and push yourself and I think I’ve done it well so I’m very happy for this week and with the slalom today. I’m looking forward to coming here again!" summarized Anna-Lena Forster just before stepping onto the highest step of a World Cup podium for the 60th time in her career on Friday!

The quadruple German Paralympic Champion, like her competitors and counterparts, will fly to Japan in just a few days to compete in five more technical events on the snow of Sapporo: "I don’t know Sapporo, it will be interesting, I think. We were in Japan in 2017. It was very cool. That’s something very different for us, but that’s cool that we’re going to another country. I’m looking forward to it."