Top 10 Americas Moments of 2018: No. 5

“I was thrilled to represent Canada at the Games and compete alongside so many amazing athletes. I will never forget listening to the Canadian anthem on the podium with a gold medal around my neck.”

At just 19 years old, Mollie has achieved what many veteran athletes can only dream about. The Canadian alpine skier took gold in the women's super-combined standing at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

Jepsen´s historic victory comes in at No. 5 in the Americas Paralympic Committee’s Top 10 Moments of 2018.

French skier Marie Bochet was the favourite to win all five women´s standing events on South Korean soil. But she made an uncharacteristic error which put her out of medal contention.

Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss was hoping to top the podium, but she hadn’t expected rising star Jepsen to spoil her day and claim her first Paralympic gold.

The youngster followed that up with silver in the slalom, and bronze in the downhill and giant slalom events. As a result of that performance, Jepsen was named Best Female Athlete by the Canadian Paralympic Committee in October.

“It is a huge honour to be recognised with this award from the Canadian Paralympic Committee,” she said.

“I was thrilled to represent Canada at the Games and compete alongside so many amazing athletes. I will never forget listening to the Canadian anthem on the podium with a gold medal around my neck.”

Jepsen began skiing at the age of two. Having been raised in Whistler, Canada, she has always been surrounded by mountains and snow. “It just kind of became our life, being at Whistler,” she said.

She was born missing fingers on her left hand but has part of her thumb and small finger. Jepsen always says: “I just want people to treat me as a normal person. I am just one of them and there is no difference."

The countdown of the APC’s Top 10 Moments continues until 31 December.