Visually impaired athlete brings gold medal home to Canada

Kimberly Joines took home a gold medal Monday in the women's sit-ski slalom at an International Paralympic Committee World Cup in Kangwonland, Korea.

Joines, from Edmonton, finished in a two-run time of one minute 54.37 seconds to capture her third victory in four races at the IPC event in Korea.

Lauren Woolstencroft of North Vancouver, B.C., and Andrea Dziewior of Nanaimo, B.C., finished third and fourth in the women's standing category. Woolstencroft finished the day with a two-run combined time of 1:55.95 with Dziewior only 0.02 seconds behind last season's women's overall champion. Germany's Andrea Rothfuss won the event in 1:48.21.

Kimberly Joines
Vancouver Sun file

Chris Williamson of Markham, Ont., and guide Nick Brush of Panorama, B.C., finished in fourth place in the men's visually impaired category with a two-run combined time of 1:46.71.

Ottawa's Kathleen Forestell and guide Sebastien Michel of Mont-Tremblant, Que., crossed the finish line in 2:01.05 to win the female visually impaired category after the rest of the competition failed to finish their run.

Over the course of the four-day event, Canadian athletes won eight gold, five silver and four bronze medals.

Woolstencroft, Joines and Williamson are all currently ranked first in the slalom for their respective categories.

The Canadian team, with 6,540 points, is currently ranked second behind Austria's 9,016 points in the Nation's Cup standings. Germany is third with 3,873.

The final IPC World Cup stop takes place in Hackuba, Japan from Feb. 23-26.

© Canwest News Service 2008