Kranjska Gora, SLO (Jan. 23, 2019) – Canada’s Alex Cairns closed the men’s technical racing at the 2019 IPC World Para-Alpine Skiing Championships with a seventh-place finish in the slalom, marking his best-ever result in international competition.

Cairns (Squamish, B.C./B.C. Adaptive Snow Sports) was the nation’s lone entry in the slalom, and the result was made sweeter as it arrived on his birthday.

"The first run was a sweet little birthday gift, the second run – not so much, but all’s well that ends well,” said Cairns, whose first run was over four seconds faster than his second. Conditions changed between the two runs as snowfall came into play for the second.

The 27-year-old British Columbian came into the sport at the age of 16, and began racing after high school. Cairns competes in the sit-skiing events, and Wednesday’s seventh-place finish bests his previous career-best 10th in slalom at the 2018 Paralympic Games.

Wednesday’s slalom concludes the men’s technical events at Kranjska Gora, and the team will move on to Sella Nevea, Italy, after Thursday’s women’s slalom to tackle the World Championships’ speed events.

“It’s focus time now,” said Cairns of his thoughts heading into the speed events. “(I’m) a little more scared for the next bit – to see how it runs on that hill. But I’m looking forward to getting there and checking it out.”

The IPC World Para-Alpine Skiing Championships resume on Thursday with the women’s slalom, and all events are being live-streamed on the CPC Facebook Page, the CBC Gem app, with select races available at radio-canada.ca/sports. For a full schedule of the Paralympic Super Series events available through streaming coverage, please visit CBCSports.ca.

Canadians can support national team athletes such as Cairns and his teammates on the para-alpine, alpine, and ski cross national teams by enjoying a day on the slopes themselves at discounted rates. Alpine Canada has partnered with the Canadian Ski Council, Snowboard Canada, and Freestyle Canada – as well as more than 100 Canadian ski resorts across the country – to deliver National Ski and Snowboard Day, Jan. 26-27, 2019. Proceeds from every ticket purchased at HitTheSlopes.ca go back into supporting Canada’s high-performance athletes in alpine, para-alpine, ski cross, freestyle, and snowboarding.