Emanuel Perathoner and Cécile Hernandez keep their calm to win gold on an incident-packed day at San Zan
F
rom their vantage point to the south of the San Zan course, the first sight spectators get of the snowboard cross are of figures punching through the horizon. Coming off the back of a left-hand turn, racers come into view as they make the first of a series of jumps in what is also, perversely, a part of the course where you can pick up speed. The moment is over in a split second, as athletes disappear once again behind safety fences. The impact on the gathered crowds is undeniable though: they can’t help but let out a roar.
Snowboard cross is a sport with high technical demands, as athletes negotiate a series of challenges from – to adopt the lexicon – jumps and berms to rollers and drops, all along a winding course. But all this skill is subordinated to the generation of speed. Every movement is calculated to limit resistance and drag. Add the challenges to balance and navigation that come from racing with a physical disability and it is perhaps not surprising to find that the snowboard cross finals at the Winter Paralympics on Sunday were carnage.
The Australian Amanda Reid, a Paralympic gold-medal swimmer making her debut as a snowboarder, was taken to hospital after crashing out backwards during the heats of the women’s LL1 classification (denoting a more impactful lower limb disability). When treated on the side of the course Reid was conscious and able to speak with paramedics. Great Britain’s Davy Zyw was also taken to hospital as a precaution after he crashed on Daytona Corner. Zyw has motor neurone disease and is understood to be the first snowsport athlete to compete with the condition at the Paralympics. Having watched video of his crash, friends and family believed a lack of upper body strength caused by the disease left him unable to steady himself in the critical moment. There were also crashes between two racers in the men’s LL1 final and three in the “small final” of the men’s upper limb disability category. It was a lot.
