New guide but no problem for Aigner as Årsjö and Forster also win Paralympic Giant Slaloms

Veronika Aigner claimed her third gold of these Paralympic Winter Games with a comfortable victory in the Women’s Giant Slalom Vision Impaired on Thursday.

The Austrian teamed up with her third guide of the season, Eric Digruber, with Lilly Sammer training with Michael Scharnagl ahead of the Men’s technical events. Aigner’s usual partner, sister Elisabeth, was ruled out before the Games with a knee injury. 

It was a case of new guide, same story for Aigner who was superb on the first run. She led Super-G gold medalist Chiara Mazzel (ITA), who also had a change of guide with Fabrizio Casal coming in for Nicola Cotti Cottini, by just over three seconds with Elina Stary (AUT; guide Stefan Winter) in third place.

While Mazzel had a fine second run, Aigner only had to get down in one piece to retain her Giant Slalom title from Beijing 2022. Despite coming close to Digruber heels in the early stages, she was in a good rhythm and clinched her fifth Paralympic gold by 2.56 seconds. Stary was four seconds further back as she won her second bronze in Cortina.

Reflecting on changing guide again, Aigner said, "It was not easy, but I've worked with Eric for three years. He knows me since 12 years. He was a trainer, he was a guide, he was a physio: a man for all things. I'm very happy and proud of him.

"The first run we drove very aggressive. The second one was bumpy and softer than the first. We made it and I'm very proud of Eric. We're standing here with a gold medal."

Digruber added, "Lilly had to compete with her VI again, Michael. They are competing tomorrow and wanted to have a training. I took care of Michael the last days, so we just swapped. Pretty cool.

"We all work together. This was the plan, that I do the tech events and she does the speed events. So far, so good."

Ebba Årsjö also secured her third gold on the Olimpia delle Tofane, putting together two excellent runs to take the Standing category title. The Swede failed to finish the second run four years ago, but made no mistake this time as she won by 2.84 seconds from Russia’s Super-G gold medalist Varvara Voronchikhina who now has a medal of each colour at these Games.

Aurélie Richard (FRA) took bronze, her fourth medal in Cortina, just ahead of Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss. Defending champion Mengqiu Zhang (CHN) was fifth.

"It's the best feeling in the world," said Årsjö. "I'm so, so happy, but so tired. It was a hard one, the second run. The surface was quite bad. In the middle, I had actually a quite big mistake, but it made me just stand up and be like, 'Let's go!'"

And the 25-year-old is confident she can challenge for her sixth career Paralympic gold on Saturday. "We can expect some good slalom," she said. "I love this hill. It's good for me. It's not too steep."

For the third Games running, Anna-Lena Forster (GER) is a double Paralympic gold medalist after taking victory in the Giant Slalom Sitting. Saturday’s Downhill winner was fastest on both runs, and she still has the Slalom - in which she is the two-time reigning champion - to come.

Defending champion Momoka Muraoka (JPN) was 1.28 seconds down in second, despite recovering from her broken left shoulder with Sitong Liu (CHN) taking bronze after her silver four years ago.

Audrey Pascual Seco's bid for a third gold of the Games ended in dramatic fashion on the first run. The Spaniard was up on the clock and would surely have set the fastest time, but crashed through a gate just meters from the finish. While Pascual was able to ski over the line unaided, she appeared disoriented and was taken to hospital with a suspected concussion. She is, however, expected to race in the Slalom. 

The men take center stage on Friday with the Giant Slalom, before the women return on Saturday with their Slalom finale.