Santacana won three gold and two silver medals at the 2011 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships
Spain’s visually impaired Alpine Skier Jon Santacana has been voted by the public as the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) ‘Athlete of the Month’ for January 2011 after a record number of votes.
At the IPC 2011 Alpine Skiing World Champioships in Sestriere, Italy, Santacana was the most successful visually impaired athlete winning three gold and two silver medals together with his guide Miguel Galindo.
Due to a genetic disease, Santacana has been visually impaired since he was eight years old and took up Alpine Skiing two years later. At the Salt Lake City 2002 Paralympic Winter Games he won gold in the Men’s Giant Slalom, as well as two bronze medals in Men’s Super-G and Downhill.
In the most competitive poll yet since the public were invited to choose a monthly winner in October 2010, Santacana secured 31% of the vote to take January’s title.
