The first event was the downhill skiing for the visually impaired. This amazed me, because the athletes that were competing in this were blind, or pretty close to it. They all had a guide who skied the course about 10 metres ahead of them. Both were wearing headsets and would talk to each other as they skied down the mountain. We were asked not to cheer until after they had crossed the finish line so that they would be able to hear their guides.
Following the visually impaired athletes, the women sit skiers competed next. There were only six of them. These were women who were paralyzed. They had a special arrangement, where they sat in a bucket which was mounted on a single ski. There was a suspension system that connected them to the ski. On the ends of their poles, they had little skis, so they could use their poles to help them balance. These skiers were faster than the Olympic skiers. They are the fastest skiers in the world usually. Unfortunately, the two skiers competing for Japan both were unable to finish the race. The first one had a pretty serious crash because her binding came apart when she was going about 120 km/h. She was actually pretty seriously injured and was picked up by a helicopter and flown away from the scene. The second woman from Japan also crashed, although it was much less serious. She was not hurt, but she was not able to finish the event.
After the sitting skiers the standing skiers competed. None of these were the same. The Standing skiers all had limited or no use of at least one limb, but sometimes it was a leg, other times it was an arm. In a few cases, an athlete could not use either of her arms. Some were missing limbs as well. After the last standing skier ran the course, the women were all done the event. There was a short break while they touched up the course and repainted some of the lines, and then it was time for the men to compete.
During the break, Jeremy and I got talking to the woman sitting next to us. We knew she was an American by what she was wearing and by the fact that she was cheering for all the American athletes. As it turned out, she was from Kingston, New Hampshire, which is only about 45 minutes to an hour from where I grew up. Also, she was the mother of Chris Devlin-Young, one of the athletes who was yet to compete. He is one of the sit skiers for the USA team. He would be competing in a little while. She was telling us a bit about him though. He had won medals, both gold and silver, at past Paralympic Games, in Salt Lake, Torino, and Lillehammer. He had won many other events worldwide for his sit skiing ability. She was very excited to see him compete again, and had even made a big banner for him.
After the break, the competition resumed with the visually impaired men. Once again, their guides led the way, typically only by about 10 metres ahead of them. Every team had their own way of doing it which worked for them though. Some preferred to ski a bit closer together, while others liked being farther apart. I was impressed at the fact that there were really only one or two crashes, even though these guys couldn't see what was in front of them. They were out there skiing a pretty fast and challenging course without ever skiing it. It was incredible.
Once the visually impaired skiers all finished up, it was time for the sit skiers. The lady next to us was excited for this part, because this was where her son would compete. He had to wait for several other skiers to go before him. When it was his turn, he got a good start, but he was 0.36 seconds behind the person who was in first place up to that point. By the second checkpoint however, he had made up some time. He was actually in the lead by 0.52 seconds. If he kept that pace, he would take the Gold Medal again. His mother's excitement was getting higher and higher as she watched her son compete and ski extremely well. He did very well, and came into view just about 200 metres from the finish line. There was one final hill, where most people got a bit of air, and then he would come off that to the finish line. He was doing very well, and it looked like he had probably gained more time since the second checkpoint. He came around that last turn, into clear view of all of the spectators, and hit that last hill. He got air, which was expected, but when he hit it, he was still finishing up the turn, and he did not land the jump. He crashed, and got right back up, still finishing quickly. Unfortunately, that crash cost him just over four seconds, which put him well outside the possibility of getting any medal. His mother was just devastated. I had no idea what to say to her, because there really is nothing you can say to make losing a gold medal better. He did finish the race, despite the crash, which was good, but still disappointing.
After the rest of the sitting skiers were finished, the standing skiers competed. The man who won for standing skiing actually did not have any arms. Yet he was the fastest person down that mountain. It was amazing. When the last standing skier reached the bottom, there was a short break and then a flower ceremony for those who had won medals. The actual medals ceremony was not until later that evening though. Medals were given for each category and for both men and women, so for the whole day there were six of each medal.
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