Ebba Aarsjoe ends Beijing campaign with second gold

Ebba Aarsjoe added a second gold medal to her haul on the final day of female Para Alpine Skiing competition at the Yangqing National Alpine Skiing Centre in Beijing.

Sweden's 21-year-old won the women's slalom standing with a time of 1:31.76, followed by Chinese 20-year-old Zhang Mengqiu (1:37.40), who leaves Beijing with two golds and three silvers, and Germany's 22-year-old Anna-Marie Rieder (1:40.50)

Aarsjoe therefore ends her successful Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games campaign with two golds and one bronze.

She admitted it was hard for her to compete after an injury prevented her from finishing the giant slalom the day before.

“It was so hard. I didn’t know until seven o’clock this morning if I was going to start. I probably should not have started. 

“But it is the Paralympics and the slalom, so we did everything we could to ski today.”

On where she found the strength to compete, Aarsjoe said: “I don’t know. Maybe I am a bit stupid I think.

“And I want to win. Maybe it was because it is the Paralympics, and it’s slalom, which is my most important discipline. But mostly because I am stupid (laughs).” 

It was another epic day for the Austrian Aigner family as Veronika, guided by her sister Elisabeth, reached the top of the podium of the women's slalom vision impaired event after clocking 1:31.53. Their sister Barbara and guide Klara Sykora (1:33.24) came in second.

Veronika said: "It's very cool and we're so happy that we got a second gold medal and sister Barbara makes a silver medal. 

"We're so happy because she did it, and I'm so proud of my sister (Elisabeth) that she brings me so fast from the start to the finish area."

Barbara added: "This is really cool. I'm very proud. It's very special. We enjoyed every moment of this run because we're going to have it in four years again, so it's going to take some time.

"We are very proud and we are looking forward to a party when we get home."

German Anna-Lena Forster claimed her second Beijing 2022 gold in the sitting category, successfully defending her slalom PyeongChang 2018 title.

"I'm so happy that I can achieve this once again. It's incredible. I have another situation at the start because I am the favourite woman here, so it's incredible.

"It means a lot because slalom is my favourite. I have to bring it down and I achieved it. That's so crazy, I'm so happy and proud of me."