Rossland’s Kimberly Joines fought through fog and rough course conditions to gain a silver medal position in the women's slalom sitting category at the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Wednesday.
However, Joines’ medal award awaits the results of an appeal by a German athlete who was disqualified and is appealing that decision the results of the women's sitting category are considered unofficial until an appeal process takes place on Thursday, March 13.
The silver-place finish would be the second Paralympic medal of Joines' 12-year career. She also won bronze in super-G at the Turin 2006 Paralympic Winter Games.
"This feels pretty good," Joines said after posting a two-run combined time of two minutes, 15.16 seconds. "It's a little bittersweet, as some really strong competitors were not racing today for various reasons, but I'm still proud."
The women's sitting category featured an action-filled second run, as each racer spent time in first position in the leaderbox before being bumped by the next athlete to navigate the challenging course that was made even tougher by a huge dump of fresh, wet snowfall.
Joines posted the fastest second-run time of the day, but was edged out of the gold medal position by Germany's Anna-Lena Forster (2:14.35), who was slightly faster in the first run.
"That race was super tough. Those were actually the toughest conditions I think I've ever faced," said Joines, who is a two-time world champion and has won more than 20 International Paralympic Committee World Cups in her career.
"I've never had such bumps like that to negotiate, so I guess I handled it well enough. I definitely had to keep my focus and not get hung up on the mistakes I made.
"It was nice to get this one out of the way, and to get the jitters out. It allows me the freedom to relax and focus on the giant slalom."
— with files from Canada News Wire
To see a video of Joines first run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRVmPlYIMwg