There will be another Rosslander carrying the nation’s colours to the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia in March.
Kimberly Joines was nominated last week to the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team, punching her ticket to Russia to try and nail down a Paralympic medal compete in alpine sit skiing.
Late last year Rossland’s Ian Lockey was named to the Canadian Paralympic Snowboard Team.
For Joines, the opportunity to compete at the highest level comes with some relish. It’s been two years since she returned to competition after recovering from a serious injury that ruled her out of the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
Despite winning overall titles and many IPC World Cup podiums, she wants to add to the Paralympic bronze medal she won in Turin in 2006.
“I was injured during the 2010 Whistler Games and unable to compete, so I have a two-part Paralympic dream: first, to be healthy for the next Games, and secondly, to earn better than a bronze,” she said.
This time around she will join 12 of the nation’s best para-alpine skiers on the Canadian team March 7-16 in Sochi, Russia.
The group has collectively racked up nearly 200 World Cup podiums and claimed 14 medals at the 2013 world championships—more than any other country in attendance.
Although nothing is a sure thing, it wasn’t a surprise Joines would be selected to the team for Sochi, considering she had podium results in all of the races (both Noram and World Cup) that she has competed in this season.
As a result, she will be looking for continued success in Sochi.
“I have a very good chance of bringing home a medal from Sochi,” she said.
Currently considered one of the world’s best female sit-skiers, Joines will be going after her second Paralympic medal, having won bronze at the Turin 2006 Paralympic Games.
Even so, she felt she will bring more to the table in the upcoming Games experience than she did in Turin.
Joines is also two-time IPC world champion and a 22-time IPC World Cup winner.
You can follow Joines’ progress on Twitter @9LivesJoines or on her website at www.kimberlyjoines.com.
editor@rosslandnews.com
Selected from an interview with Joines by Alpine Canada at http://www.alpinecanada.org/athlete/joines:
If you could design your own World Cup spot anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Selfishly, I would put a World Cup back in Rossland where I live. They used to host back in the 60s, I think. I would like it for two reasons: first, I could show off my awesome little town; second, if we hosted a downhill it would be sure to guarantee a bunch of powder for the locals … then we could all go powder skiing. First rule of ski racing: if you want it to snow, host a downhill.
If you could build your dream home anywhere in the world, where would it be?
My dream homes would involve two locations: one in Rossland, B.C., which would be a bigger better version of what I already own, but the garage would be twice the size of the home. The second one would be on acreage, on water, where we could sled ski and quad out of ... likely further north, but still in B.C.
Top results
IPC World Cup super-G champion (2009)
IPC World Cup overall champion (2008)
Bronze – Super-G – Paralympic Winter Games – Turin, Italy (2006)
IPC World Cup rankings
(2012-13) Overall: sixth; Slalom: fifth; Giant slalom: sixth
You can check out Kimberly Joines’ story at http://www.kimberlyjoines.com/my-story.html.