Winter Sports Celebrate New World Champions

With their world championships always taking place in the year of the Paralympic Summer Games, many winter sports have important competitions taking place this year too. The VIth World Ski Championships for the Disabled were held from January 27 to February 4 in Crans Montana/Anzère (Switzerland). In March, Salt Lake City (USA) hosted the 2000 Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships as the first test event for the Paralympic Winter Games in 2002.

It was the first time that the world championships for alpine and nordic skiing were held at the same time and hosted by the same Organizing Committee - the nordic events in Crans Montana and the alpine competitions in Anzère. Only a few months before the opening of the ski world championships, the city of Sion lost its bid for hosting the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Championships were originally planned as a test event for 2006. Yet, this defeat and disappointment did not affect the quality of the competitions and the tremendous performance and achievements of the event organizers.

More than 350 athletes from 23 countries participated in the competitions. Virtually every nation present came away with at least one medal, but the most successful of them all were Austria, Germany, Russia, Switzerland and the USA. The United States won 31 medals, Germany 30 and Austria 29.

Matching the success of the World Ski Championships, the Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships in Salt Lake City came to a roaring close as Canada beat Norway 2-1 to win the gold medal. The game went into overtime and more than 6,000 fans cheered on as Canada’s Shawn Matheson scored the winning goal. The victory gave Canada, the country that created the sport, its first gold medal in sledge hockey, and avenged a gold-medal loss to Norway at the 1998 Paralympics in Nagano.

Six countries took part in this Paralympic test event. Sweden grabbed the bronze by beating Japan 5-1, while Estonia squared off with the United States to take 5th place.

The test event was held at the E Center in West Valley City. This world-class facility is set to be one of the sporting venues for the 2002 Winter Games, where an estimated 600 athletes from 40 countries are expected to take part. Ice sledge hockey, which became a Paralympic sport during the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, is fast gaining ground. The more than 6,000-strong crowd, mostly students on field trips, set an attendance record for a sledge hockey tournament. The organizers look forward to as much interest and enthusiasm for the event at the 2002 Paralympics.

Nordic Skiing Competitions Bring About Great Results

The way the Nordic competitions at the World Ski Championships in Crans Montana were organized will set an example for the future. The quality of the whole event - competitions as well as the organization - was excellent and it showed that the organizers took these Championships very seriously.

Outstanding results were achieved especially in the first two Nordic competitions with only three categories (LW-sitting and LW-standing for athletes with disabilities in upper or/and lower limbs and B-classes for athletes with visual impairments). The finishing times of most athletes were very close and the athletes’ performance was on a very elite level. As the results confirmed, it was a good decision to significantly reduce the classification categories.

Many medal winners, especially in the Biathlon events, were unexpected and a great surprise. It turned out that the shooting performance increasingly becomes a key for winning a medal. This has not always been the case in the past, but it is a very much appreciated improvement in the biathlon competitions.

The number of competitors in the Nordic events was lower than at the Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998. Instead of nine teams, as it was in the men’s sitski relay competitions at the last Paralympic Games, there were only two teams in this category and the event could not take place. However, the athletes competing at the World Championships represented the elite of our sport.

Many countries who had usually sent athletes to International Nordic competitions in the past seemed to have disappeared from the "playing field". For instance, Great Britain, Spain, Estonia, Kazakhstan and Belarus did not send any Nordic competitors. Other countries with high-quality winter sport facilities had fewer athletes in their teams than in the past, e.g. Sweden, Austria, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. We need to identify the reasons for this decline and will increase our development efforts in this area in order to win as many elite athletes and nations for our sport as possible.

I hope that more young and female athletes will participate in the Salt Lake Paralympic Winter Games in 2002. We need to do something against the decline of women’s participation in Nordic Skiing competitions, which is most significant in the LW-classes. We hope to repeat the success of the 2000 World Championships in the future with more athletes from many different nations. Many thanks to the Organizing Committee and its staff for their outstanding job, to the volunteers for their support and the athletes for their excellent performance!

Rita van Driel
IPC Nordic Committee

"These champions teach us a daily lesson
about the human virtues of courage and willpower.
They teach us, following the example of Albert Camus that
"The grandeur of man lies in his decision
to be stronger than his condition." "

Dr. Bernard Comby, President of the Organizing Committee Handi 2000

More Professionalism Pays Off: Alpine Competitions Were "Superb"

The 2000 Disabled World Championships were a resounding success. The Sion Organizing Committee took on the hosting of both the Alpine and Nordic World Championships and did a truly superb job on both events.

The Alpine site was an excellent venue. The Organizing Committee hosted a World Cup Downhill last season as a test event for the 2000 Championships. Although the actual race in 1999 was canceled due to weather, it provided a great opportunity for athletes and coaches to acquaint themselves with the race hill and course for 2000.

For the 2000 World Championships the actual conduct of the competition was fantastic. The ‘on-hill’ staff were very professional and a pleasure to work with. Many members of the Organizing Committee had ’able-bodied’ world cup race, coaching and work experience. They knew what had to be done and this contributed immeasurably to the success of the Championships.

Sincerest thanks go to Jean-Pierre Seppey and Jacques Bland for their tireless efforts to ensure a great event and very elite level competitions. As disabled Alpine ski racing finishes its second World Cup season under the FIS (International Ski Federation), the quality of racing continues to become more elite and world class. Events like the Disabled World Championships in Anzère play a vital role in elevating Disabled Alpine racing to a higher level. Holding our events on world-class hills and courses only adds to the credibility and legitimacy of our sport.

Our FIS Technical Delegates, Jean-Claude Rey and Luc Schwaln, were also key to this successful competition. Again, congratulations and our heartfelt thanks to all who were involved in making the 2000 World Ski Championships for the Disabled a memorable event. I hope in the future that Anzère will again consider hosting disabled skiing events.

Jack Benedick
IPC Alpine Skiing Chairperson