Kelly Gallagher and guide charlotte evans It won Great Britain’s first gold medal at the Winter Paralympic Games today in 2014.
Two days after the disappointment of finishing last in the downhill race, Gallagher and guide Evans made history with a victory in the visually impaired women’s super G in Sochi.
After that coup, tearful Evans had sworn to return, and his trust proved well-founded.
He said at the time: “I am the crying wreck but our communication was great and we have no excuses. You can see my frustration but we will fight back.”
This British The first of six couples struggled on the course, and after posting a one-minute 28.72-second time, they faced an anxious wait to see if their time could be beat.
Slovakia Henrieta Farkasova, downhill gold medalist, crashed and when Australian Melissa Perrine couldn’t finish either, the British gold was safe.
For Gallagher, the then 28-year-old Northern Irishman, redemption was sweet after he doubted both himself and his partnership with 22-year-old Evans.
Gallagher said: “I lost all faith in myself, in Charlotte, in our processes, in what we were doing and said, ‘I only have a few hours to put this together because we’re going to be in the snow again and we have to race’.
“We wouldn’t have come here without Charlotte. She believed in us and believed in herself when I didn’t believe in myself.”
There was another good news for England when Jade Etherington and guide Caroline Powell, who finished second in downhill to claim the country’s first Paralympic medal on snow in 20 years, added bronze to their achievements.