May 2, 2012 – Today, supporters of the sport of Adaptive Snowboarding were rewarded when the International Paralympic Committee announced that two Para-Snowboard medal events will be included in the Alpine Skiing program at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. The two events will take place March 7-16, 2014. Qualification criteria will be published on May 28, 2012.
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| Evan Strong/New Zealand WC |
Acceptance of snowboarding as a Paralympic sport is the culmination of international, national and local efforts over the last six years. AAS, which took an active role in these efforts, helped focus the world’s attention on the sport with ongoing support from the ESPN X Games which has, for the past two years, included the Adaptive Snowboarder X race.
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Nick Baumgartner 2011 X Games Gold Medalist. Matt Morning/ESPN Images
Earlie
they too can have an opportunity at Olympic Gold! So pumped for you all!" |
Public attention to adaptive snowboarding also resulted from a series of AAS adaptive events including the ASX training camps and races made possible through AAS partnerships with the United States of America Snowboard Association, Toyota, Loctite, Burton, Udos Oil, Freedom Innovations, Smith Optics, Element, Disabled Sports USA and others. The ASX race series, including the race at X Games, boasted the first-ever cash purses for participating adaptive athletes.
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| Travis K/Keith D/Chris B - All Veteran Race at USASA Nationals 09' |
In February 2012, France hosted a two-day World Championship featuring 40 Para-Snowboarders from 10 countries. Gold in the men’s standing class was taken by Evan Strong, racing for the US, who finished ahead of New Zealand’s Carl Murphy and fellow American Mike Shea. The women’s gold was won by Bibian Mentel of the Netherlands, while silver and bronze went to USA’s Amy Purdy and Italy’s Sara Dorigatti, respectively. Both Evan and Amy trained at AAS’ Crested Butte Adaptive Snowboard camp in 2011-12. International points they have accumulated over the past several years puts them out in front in terms of selection for the 2014 US Paralympic Team.
February’s event also included the sitting category for the first time, which is open to riders with physical impairment such as paraplegia and bilateral lower extremity amputation.
In 2012-13, Adaptive Action Sports, Inc., will continue its winter adaptive boardercross training which includes beginner to expert programs with access to a full-time boardercross course, seasonal lodging and a full time staff of certified instructors and coaches. For information concerning how to participate in this training, contact AAS Executive Director Daniel Gale at
Daniel@adacs.org.
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| ASX Training Camp at Copper Mountain Colorado 09' |
Additional information on the 2014 Paralympics is available through
www.sochi2014.com.
For information on the International Paralympics Committee, visit
www.paralympic.org. Or, telephone Craig Spence, IPC Director of Media and Communication, at 49-228-2097-230. You may also email Craig at craig.spence@paralympic.org.
To contact the WSF Para-Snowboard division, visit
www.worldsnowboardfederation.org. You may also contact Marco Sampaoli, WSF Press and Media Operations at
marco@worldsnowboardfederation.org. Danny Buntain, WSF Para-Snowboard Chairperson, may be reached at 39-340-3285569 or 44-787-9336623. She may be
emailed at danny.buntain@gmail.com.
