Snow Sports NZ Para Alpine athlete Adam Hall (Wānaka, 36) has finished in eighth place at the FIS Para Alpine Slalom World Cup held in Veysonnaz, Switzerland overnight. This marked the first World Cup race of Hall’s 2024 race season, and he was thrilled to be back in the start gate.
It was an incredibly tight race, with just two seconds separating second place and eighth place. The quality of the field was high, with the current Slalom Paralympic Champion Arthur Bauchet of France on the start list alongside Hall himself, who is a double bronze medalist from the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Winter Games.
Fluctuating temperatures and subsequent rainfall over the past couple of days in Veysonnaz made for a challenging course. Hall explained, "The course in Veysonnaz was pretty challenging, we have had some rain over the last couple of days, so the course needed to be salted to ensure it remained firm. I was happy with my runs today, and early season progression I am making, it is all going in the right direction.”
Bauchet took the win by a significant margin, with Aaron Lindstroem of Sweden finishing in second place and Robin Cuche rounding out the podium in third on home snow.
It has been a later start than usual for the Kiwi Para Alpine Ski Team and they were very pleased to be back in the start gate this week. The action continues for Hall, he will be in racing at the Cortina Para Alpine World Cup in Italy next week, before heading to Japan for a triple header Slalom Para Alpine World Cup during the second week of February.
11 months ago