Wales’ Snow Queen Menna Fitzpatrick Glides To World Gold In Italy

Wales’ snow queen Menna Fitzpatrick has struck gold in the visually impaired downhill at the Para Alpine World Championships in Italy.

The 20-year-old from Macclesfield and guide Jen Kehoe beat fellow Brits Kirsty Gallagher and Gary Smith in the event which had been postponed on Tuesday due to dangerous conditions.

Fitzpatrick and Kehoe clocked one minute 16.09 secs on their run on the Sella Nevea course to claim their first gold at the worlds.

“We didn’t have a great training run this morning but we skied better and quicker in the actual race run, which made us pretty happy,” said Fitzpatrick.

“We’re actually delighted because it’s the first downhill race that we have finished since the World Cup races in Canada in February last year, so it is a pretty big finish for us.”

And they are now the first British skiers to hold world and Paralympic titles at the same time following their slalom gold in South Korea last year to complete an incredible 12 months for the pair.

Menna Fitzpatrick and Jen Kehoe have now claimed seven medals at the Paralympics and worlds in 11 months.

The duo won silver in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom in the first part of the World Championships in Slovenia last week.

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Fitzpatrick and Kehoe are Britain’s most successful Winter Paralympians, having won slalom gold, plus silvers in the giant slalom and super combined, and super-G bronze, at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics last March.

It is just two years since Fitzpatrick, who has only five per cent vision on skis,  took her first worlds medal with bronze in the giant slalom in Tarvisio.