Winter Games: Hall tops great day for NZ

Matt Hallat of Canada, Adam Hall of New Zealand and Mitchell Gourley of Australia pose on the...
Matt Hallat of Canada, Adam Hall of New Zealand and Mitchell Gourley of Australia pose on the podium after the men's standin slalom. (Photo by Hannah Johnston/Getty Images)
New Zealand was in the limelight yesterday at the Winter Games thanks to celebrated Paralympian Adam Hall and his team-mate, Corey Peters.

Hall won the gold in the men's standing slalom and Peters the silver in the sitting slalom at the IPC adaptive world cup slalom.

The event was one of two back-to-back world cup slaloms being staged at the Winter Games and attracted a top field of athletes from around the world chasing qualification points for the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

Forty-two men and women competed in the challenging event on the Rocky Gully Race Arena which was divided into three categories - slalom visually impaired, slalom standing and slalom sitting.

The first run took its toll across all the categories with just 26 of the field progressing. The men's slalom standing race was the most hotly contested, with 11 athletes vying for the podium.

Hall, ranked 7th in the world, stamped his mark in the first run when he clocked a fast time of 44.94sec to clearly beat Matt Hallat, of Canada, ranked 29, who scored 46.06 to out-ski world No 5 Mitchell Gourley (Australia) in 46.09sec. Hall skied confidently in his second run to hold the lead and win in a combined time of 1min 29.03sec.

It was a tight finish for second and third, with both Hallat and Gourley completing their second run in 44.10sec. Hallat had the edge to take silver in 1.30.16, leaving the bronze to Gourley in 1min 30.19sec.

Hall said he was pleased to be able to win gold in his own backyard at Coronet Peak.

''I'm particularly excited to win the Winter Games title,'' he said.

''It is great to have the opportunity to ski at home and it was a world-class course. It was bit of a rodeo ride in the first run but the second improved. I still have a lot of work to do heading to Sochi but it's good to be under way for the season.''

The slalom sitting race was won by Canadian Josh Dueck, ranked 16 in the world, who won silver at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.

He won yesterday's race in a combined time of 1min 42.60sec, while Peters, who is new to the sport following an accident in 2009, put on a classy performance against a strong, experienced field to take second place in 1min 49.46sec. Third place went to Kurt Oatway, of Canada, ranked 32, in 1min 50.07sec.

Peters, who is ranked 37 in the world, is racing on the international circuit but this was his first top-three placing.

''It's the first podium finish for me and I am obviously very happy with the results,'' he said.

The men's visually impaired section was won by Gabriel Juan Gorce Yepes, of Spain, and his guide, JA Ventura Ferrer, in 1min 44.31sec, while the women's visually impaired title went to world No 12 Staci Mannella and guide Kim Seevers, of the United States, in 2.01.11.

The women's slalom standing title was won by Melanie Schwartz, ranked 16, in a combined result of 1min 59.79sec, ahead of Great Britain's Heather Mills, ranked 28th, who clocked 2min 09.09sec to win the silver. World No 4 Stephani Victor, United States, was outstanding in both runs in the women's sitting event to win the title in 1min 54.38sec ahead of 7th-ranked fellow American Laurie Stephens in 2min 01.54sec.

 

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