Canada's Ramsay, Cameron, Guimond ski to bronze medals at Beijing Paralympics
CBC
Canada's Alana Ramsay and Collin Cameron won bronze medals minutes apart from each other, and Alexis Guimond added one more to the Canadian medal haul on Sunday at the Beijing Paralympics.
Ramsay took an early stumble, threatening her chances in the women's standing super-G alpine event. But a remarkable recovery and strong finish pushed her to the podium.
The Calgary native now owns three career Paralympic bronze medals, with the previous two coming at PyeongChang 2018 — including the same super-G bronze.
But this one may have meant a bit more. Ramsay was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following a crash in January 2019, and said she didn't feel comfortable on skis again until last month.
"It's been a long time coming back from that so winning a bronze medal here means the world because it means my dedication to the sport is paying off," Ramsay said.
WATCH | Ramsay soars to super-G bronze:
China's Zhang Mengqiu won gold at one minute 13.54 seconds, while France Marie Bochet, the reigning Paralympic champion who fell in her opening race in Beijing on Saturday, scored silver in 1:14.97.
Ramsay, a 27-year-old with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, rounded out the podium with a time of 1:16.84.
Ramsay took a whole year off of skiing, and that was before COVID-19 came and wreaked havoc on everyone's schedule.
It was a long road, but now she's a Paralympic medallist once again.
"This sport has given me everything. It has given me the personality that I have, it has given me many, many friends on this team and it has given me this amazing opportunity to be here in China and to race for my country."
WATCH | What you missed on Day 1 of the Beijing Paralympics:
Meanwhile, Cameron collected his fourth career bronze medal, racing to third place in the men's 18km sitting cross-country event.
Cameron, of Bracebridge, Ont., prevented a Chinese podium sweep, holding off fourth-place Du Tian by nearly eight seconds to reach the podium.
