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New Zealand's Adam Hall - Source: Getty
New Zealander Adam Hall's gold medal win in the men's
standing slalom at the Winter Paralympics, fulfilled a 15 year
dream.
Otago-born Hall won the race despite falling halfway through his
second run and afterwards said: "I can't explain it, I'm wordless.
It's been a 15 year dream to come here and win a gold medal".
His gold medal in Vancouver was New Zealand's first medal at the
Winter Paralympics since 2002.
Hall, 22, who has spina bifida, had to beat a combined time of one
minute 45.97 seconds set by German Gerd Schonfelder, and got there
with around half a second to spare.
Talking to Sky Sport after his victory, Hall joked that his fall
was on purpose and said he "just got back on the horse" and tried
not to think about how it would affect his medal prospects.
"To cross the finish line and see my name and country on the top of
the scoreboard was unbelievable," he said
Hall went to Vancouver hoping to get a gold medal and said "you
don't just come here to get second or third".
His grandfather travelled from Dunedin and his mother, who was also
in the crowd, said she had stopped breathing halfway through the
race.
Defending a lead of more than two seconds after the first run, Hall
skied well at the start of his second run, but looked to have lost
all chance when he fell.
But he scrambled back up to finish the course 0.57sec ahead of
Schonfelder with a two-run time of 1min 45.40sec. He looked
distraught at the finish, until he saw his name flash up in the
gold medal position.
Schonfelder, who had powered down his second run to move into the
lead, took the silver medal ahead of Australian Cameron
Rahles-Rahbula, who was second after the first round.
Hall led after the first round with a time of 50.95sec, 2.13sec
quicker than Rahles-Rahbula.
After the first run Hall said he was happy with his time but could
not afford to get too excited.
"It's a two-run race. It's not just one race, so after the first
run it doesn't mean anything," he said.
In the end his two second buffer was enough to stave off his
rivals.
Hall is one of only two New Zealanders competing at the Games.
Peter Williams is competing in the slalom and the giant
slalom.
New Zealand last won a Winter Paralympics medal eight years ago in
Salt Lake City, where Rachel Battersby won three golds, and Steve
Bayley a gold and two bronze.
Hall was ranked second coming into the Games, after a good 12
months leading up to the event.
He was the New Zealand Snow Sports Athlete of the Year 2008-2009
and contested the 2006 Winter Paralympic Games in Italy.
Hall still has three events left at the Games. He will compete in
the giant slalom on Thursday (NZ time), the super G on Sunday and
the super combined on Monday.
Watch
Adam Halls preparations on TV ONEs Attitude, Sunday mornings at
8.30am
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