World Cup Podium Signals Hall on Track for Sochi

Panorama, Canada- (14 January 2014) – With just over 50 days to go until the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, Paralympian Adam Hall has signalled that he is on track to deliver his top performance in Sochi. Adam today won the silver medal in the standing class in Super-G at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Panorama, Canada.

As one of the few remaining World Cup events ahead of the Sochi Games today’s field was made up of athletes focused on winning Paralympic medals in March. “There was a lot of competition today, a lot of my main rivals that I’ll compete against in Sochi,” explained Adam.

Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger claimed first place with a time of 1:15.66 with Adam Hall second in 1:17.26 and Switzerland’s Michael Breugger third in 1:17.50

Describing the result as “a really good measurement of where we’re at”, Adam was quick to add that there is still work to be done. “It’s obviously not quite where we want to be just yet but we’re heading in the right direction. Second place in a world cup is obviously a really good result and we can be really happy with it but there’s definitely room for improvement and that’s what we’re always looking for in high performance. We’ll go away and work harder.”

Adam will compete in Super-G, Super-Combined and Slalom in Sochi. He is currently ranked first equal in the world for Slalom and sixth for Super-G. He won the gold medal in Slalom at the Vancouver Paralympic Games in 2010 and is focused on winning another medal at the 2014 Games.

“Going into the Paralympics I’m feeling really good,” he says. “We’ve made some huge changes from last season. I’m a lot stronger both mentally and physically. With a few more days’ training under our belt I strongly believe we can be where we want to be.”

Team mate Corey Peters (New Plymouth) placed thirteen in today’s Super-G. Corey also competed in the Giant Slalom yesterday but posted a DNF after skiing out four gates from the finish.

The world cup event has been affected by adverse weather conditions with competitors having to cope with snow and rain which have led to changes in the schedule.

“With ski racing you have to be quite adaptable. We’ve had all sorts of weather, it’s just about staying calm and relaxed and adapting to the weather the best you can,” explained Corey.

The New Zealand athletes will now travel to the USA to compete in another World Cup at Copper Mountain in Colorado from 17 – 20 January.

The Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games will take place from 7 -16 March. New Zealand will be represented by three athletes: skiers Adam Hall and Corey Peters and snowboarder Carl Murphy.

Results from the IPC World Cup will be available here: http://www.paralympic.org/alpine-skiing/calendar-and-results 

Ends