By Tom Degun

Kelly_Gallagher_Paralympics_2010January 20 - Visually impaired Winter Paralympic star Kelly Gallagher, alongside guide Charlotte Evans, has made history at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing World Championships in Sestriere as she claimed Britain's first ever World Championship medal in the sport.


The 24-year-old from County Down in Northern Ireland claimed silver in the visually impaired class after completing the two required runs of the course in 1min 47.67sec to finish just behind Slovakia's Paralympic giant slalom champion Henrietta Farkasova and well ahead of Russian skier Alexandra Franteseva who picked up the bronze medal.

"Charlotte helped me with getting down the slope really well giving me really good instructions, so it was a good race," said Gallagher, who finished just missed out on a medal at last year's Paralympics when she and her previous guide Claire Robb finished in fourth place.

Jeremy Wood, the BDST Performance Director, hailed the outstanding performance.

"Todays result is a milestone in the achievements of Paralympic alpine for a British squad and keeps our sights firmly on the medal success we know the team is capable of at next Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi 2014," he said.

"The management team and athletes are all extremely proud."

In the men's visually impaired event, Slovakia's Jakub Krako took the gold with guide Dusan Simo.

The win was exciting for the skier, as the gold was taken from Spainish star and race favorite Yon Santacana with guide Miguel Galindo, who ended up with the silver.

In the men's standing event, France's Vincent Gauthier-Manuel took first with a time of 1:27.05, as he just edged out German legend Gerd Schoenfelder who recently became the first German to be honoured with the Juan Antonio Samaranch International Olympic Committee Disabled Athlete Award.

Australia's Toby Kane finished in third with his compatriot Cameron Rahles-Rahbula, who was carrying a leg injury, finishing in fourth place.

"I can't really feel my foot much at the moment, but it doesn't hurt so I was just happy to finish today," Rahles-Rahbula said.

In the men's sitting event, Japan's Takeshi Suzuki took the gold, followed by France's Yohann Taberlet and Germany's Thomas Nolte respectively.

A total of 11 countries were represented on the podium today, with Slovakia being the most successful with three medals.

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