PARALYMPICS:

Sweet medals No. 5 for Woolstencroft, Forest at Paralympics

March 20, 2010 — The Canadian Press     ►Photo: Lauren Woolstencroft (Kevin Bogetti-Smith/CPC)

Join the SRC fun on Facebook

WHISTLER, B.C. — Lauren Woolstencroft of North Vancouver, B.C., won the standing super-combined race at the Paralympics on Saturday to earn her fifth gold medal of the Games.

Woolstencroft, 28, had a time of 2 minutes, 22.67 seconds in the race that had a super-G in the morning and a slalom in the afternoon.

She was nearly 12 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

"I am a competitor, I always want to race my best and it was a bit of a tricky course, so I had to be super-focused. At the same time knew I had to get down so I needed to ski a smart run. Obviously super-happy and surprised with the outcome," said Woolstencroft.

Karolina Wisniewska, a 33-year-old from Vancouver, was timed in 2:35.47 for the bronze.

Woolstencroft, who was born without legs below her knees and no arm below the left elbow, has won gold in the downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super-G.

Earlier, Viviane Forest of Edmonton was second in the super-combined event for the visually impaired to earn her fifth medal of the Games.

Forest and guide Lindsay Debou of Whistler, B.C., had a time of 2:35.94 seconds in an event that combines a super-G and a slalom.

Forest, who is skiing with a badly pulled groin, has also won a gold in the downhill, silver in super-G and slalom, and bronze in giant slalom.

"I never though I would actually win the five medals. The biggest challenge here was to ski your best day after day. I am mentally fried right now. Today my only focus was the race and I am pretty mentally tired. I had great confidence coming in and I was super-prepared. I knew I had the potential but you can never know what is going to happen," added Woolstencroft. "I don't know if all of this has set in yet, I am just kind of surprised still."

In the 34-year history of the Winter Paralympics, there have been seven women to win four gold in a single Games, the last being Ragnhild Myklebust (Norway) in cross-country and Sarah Hill (USA) in alpine during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

“Lauren has established herself as the golden athlete of these Games,” said Blair McIntosh, chef de mission, Team Canada. “She is in a class of her own at the Winter Games and I join the nation in congratulating her on this remarkable display of word-class athleticism.”

Woolstencroft also ties swimmer Stephanie Dixon and athletics star Chantal Petitclerc as the only three Canadian women to earn five gold medals in a single Paralympics, winter or summer.

Competition ends Sunday with para-nordic events and the closing ceremonies are scheduled for 7 p.m. PT.   SRC

2010 PARALYMPIC WINTER GAMES MEDAL COUNT FOR LAUREN WOOLSTENCROFT

Sport               Event                         Medal
Alpine Skiing    Downhill, Standing    Gold
Alpine Skiing    Super-G, Standing    Gold
Alpine Skiing    Slalom, Standing    Gold
Alpine Skiing    Super Combined, Standing    Gold
Alpine Skiing    Giant Slalom, Standing    Gold

2010 PARALYMPIC WINTER GAMES MEDAL COUNT FOR VIVIAN FOREST

Sport               Event                                      Medal
Alpine Skiing    Downhill, Visually Impaired    Gold
Alpine Skiing    Super-G, Visually Impaired    Silver
Alpine Skiing    Slalom, Visually Impaired    Silver
Alpine Skiing    Super Combined, Visually Impaired    Silver
Alpine Skiing    Giant Slalom, Visually Impaired    Bronze