Para-alpine skiing classification
Para-alpine skiing classification is the classification system for para-alpine skiing designed to ensure fair competition between alpine skiers with different types of disabilities. The classifications are grouped into three general disability types: standing, blind and sitting. Classification governance is handled by International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing. Prior to that, several sport governing bodies dealt with classification including the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD), International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMWSF), International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) and Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CP-ISRA). Some classification systems are governed by bodies other than International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing, such as the Special Olympics. The sport is open to all competitors with a visual or physical disability. It is not open to people with intellectual disabilities.
Australia's Cameron Rahles Rahbula competing in the Super G at the 2012 IPC Nor Am Cup at Copper Mountain, Colorado
German sit skier Anna Schaffelhuber at the 2013 IPC Alpine World Championships in La Molina, Spain
Henrieta Farkasova from Slovakia at the 2013 IPC Alpine World Championships in La Molina, Spain
Alexandra Frantseva, a B2 skier from Russia at the 2013 IPC Alpine World Championships at La Molina in Spain
Paralympic alpine skiing is an adaptation of alpine skiing for athletes with a disability. The sport evolved from the efforts of disabled veterans in Germany and Austria during and after the Second World War. The sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee Sports Committee. The primary equipment used includes outrigger skis, sit-skis, and mono-skis. Para-alpine skiing disciplines include the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, super combined, and snowboard.
Talan Skeels-Piggins from Great Britain in the first run for the men's slalom (sitting), at the Winter Paralympics 2010 in Vancouver, Canada.
Australian Paralympian Michael Milton at the 1988 Innsbruck Winter Games.
A disabled veteran uses a sit ski at Vail, Colorado.
A Norwegian skier in the downhill at the 1988 Winter Paralympics