Paralympian not planning too far ahead
AFTER 28 backtoback winters, gold medalwinning Paralympic skier Adam Hall is not calling it quits just yet.
Then again, he is also not committing himself to four more years of training in the hope of gaining entry to his fifth Winter Paralympics, in Beijing in 2022.
‘‘I haven’t really put too much thought into anything else except just enjoying this time, and trying to share all of this with as much of the New Zealand public as I possibly can.’’
The ‘‘all of this’’ Hall refers to is the gold and bronze medals he won at this year’s Winter Paralympics in PyeongChang in South Korea.
There is also South Korea’s Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award he received, for those who ‘‘best exemplify the spirit of the Games’’.
It is eight years since Hall was last in the medals, when he won gold at the Vancouver Winter Paralympics.
A comeback performance in South Korea was, he says, always part of the plan.
‘‘We worked really hard to just have a vision of how I needed to be skiing . . . and what it was going to take to be back on top of the paralympic podium.’’
‘‘We never really had any doubts in our mind that we could do it.
‘‘I had to ski well and on that second run, ski out of my skin, really, and it was a phenomenal run.
‘‘And it together.’’
Hall gives much of the credit to his supporters.
‘‘ . . . there are coaches behind the scenes, team management behind the scenes, teammates, the support of the community and various organisations as well that provide so many resources to help you be the best in the world.
’’For me to be selected to represent at the highest level possible is a great opportunity for me to pay back in some way by putting down the best performance I possibly can.’’
Hall has spina bifida and was one of the most disabled standup skiers in his two events — the men’s super combined standing and the men’s slalom standing.
The eldest child of an Outram dairy farming family, Hall said he was very fortunate to have been brought up in an ‘‘every
all
just
came day, Kiwi family’’ and to have attended schools on the Taieri that gave him every opportunity.
‘‘I was always into sport going through school.
‘‘Physical education was my favourite subject at school, getting outside and playing all kinds of sports.
‘‘I was given every opportunity to participate in anything and everything.’’
He began skiing at Cardrona when he was 6, and his association with the ski resort continues, his training due to begin there again in June.
The rest of the year he spends in Colorado, May being the only month he is not on snow.
Just less than a year ago, Hall married his wife, Elitsa, who is a member of the United States paralympic team.
He plans to spend the next few weeks on the family farm but when the snow returns, he will be back at Cardrona working on his technique and his fitness, but also letting it be known there are opportunities for others to follow his lead and ‘‘continue our legacy when it is time for us to hang our skis up.’’