Monumental Day for Snowboarders at Paralympics

Snowboarders frolicked in the finish area, smiling and sharing a special occasion on a sun-drenched day, celebrating the success of the first-ever snowboard event at the Paralympic Games. A near-capacity grandstand of exuberant fans created a stirring atmosphere at the Rosa Khutor alpine venue.

One by one riders navigated a tricky, twisting snowboard cross course, packed with sweeping turns, numerous rolls, and terrain changes as well as a finishing jump that provided plenty of thrills. Snowboard cross riders took three runs, with their best two being factored in the results.

Dutch rider Bibian Mentel-Spee, 27, one of the pioneers of the sport who championed the movement to include snowboarding in the Paralympics, took gold in the women’s event, while American Evan Strong, 27, led a 1-2-3 U.S. sweep in the men’s race.

"Snowboarding is my passion. I had cancer and lost my leg, and snowboarding helped me to overcome this," said Mentel-Spee. " Now I hope my victory will help encourage more kids with disabilities to take up snowboarding.

Referring to the monumental day for para-snowboarding, Mentel-Spee said, "This helps so much to grow the sport because this is the biggest platform for disabled sports."

Strong, who was injured in a motorcycle accident ten years ago resulting in the amputation of his lower left leg, echoed similar thoughts.

"The world knows about para-snowboarding now," Strong said after the victory. "There are hundreds of kids out there with physical disabilities, and today they said ‘I can do that,’ so ... four years from now it will be twice as big and we hope to share it even more."

Strong’s victory earned the United States its first gold medal at the Sochi 2014 Paralympics.

Camera crews and print media couldn’t seem to get enough of U.S. snowboarding celebrity Amy Purdy, who after receiving her bronze medal tonight, will jet off to Los Angeles, California to participate on the popular American television show "Dancing with the Stars."

"Hopefully, other people see us out here riding and having a good time and want to get involved so we can grow this sport," said Purdy. "For me, I just love snowboarding so much. Being able to share it with friends or anyone else is really a big part of my life."

Thirty-three men and 11 women took to the difficult Rosa Khutor course that produced numerous spills but no serious injuries.

It appeared that all riders were stoked with the day’s events.

"We’ve been a family, and to do this together and make history together is incredible," said Michelle Salt of Canada. "I couldn’t ask for better teammates and competitors. They’re very inspiring people."

"It’s a really great day and good that the sun came out," said Polish snowboarder Wojciech Taraba. "I hope that Para-snowboarding continues to get better, so it’s a really great day for us."

Members of the International Paralympic Committee, who soaked in the mountain sun while watching an entertaining event, also had positive feedback about the debut of snowboarding.

"I think if you look into the stands, it pretty much is a story for itself. There are a lot of people here watching and cheering it on," said Todd Nicholson, who heads the IPC Athletes Commission.

"Right now, we have para-snowboard within the the alpine program for them to compete here. We took the two classes (standing) for men and women with the most number of athletes competing.

"We’re really hoping snowboarding continues to evolve so we can have more athletes competing at the Games."

According to IPC spokesperson Craig Spence, it is plausible that para-snowboarding could become a sport of its own, potentially with more events, four years from now in PyeongChang 2018.

Friday’s competition was a huge leap forward for the sport within the tight-knit Paralympics family.

Written by Nick Devlin

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