Kranjska Gora, SLO (Jan. 24, 2019) – Canada’s Para-Alpine Ski Team has closed the technical portion of the 2019 IPC World Para-Alpine Skiing Championships with an emotional podium performance by NextGen racer Frédérique Turgeon, who captured silver in the ladies’ slalom on Thursday.

The 19-year-old Turgeon (Candiac, Que./Club de ski Bromont) has set a series of firsts in her racing career over the last two weeks, capturing her first World Cup medals – back-to-back slalom wins in Zagreb, Croatia – followed by her World Championship debut this week, which was capped off with her first-ever Worlds medal.

The success is bittersweet for Turgeon whose father, Ronald, passed away suddenly last month.

“We connected through skiing. I’m very sad he’s not here because he was my biggest fan. It’s great to win this for him – I dedicate this medal to him,” said Turgeon from the finish area. Despite the personal loss, she remains motivated to continue to build on her success in racing. “You have to believe that you’re the best out there to be the best, and that’s what I’m trying to do. I was very happy with my run, the way I pushed myself to really race down as fast as I could. It’s just unbelievable.”

Turgeon’s is the second medal for Canada at this year’s Worlds. Teammate Alana Ramsay (Calgary/CADS Alberta) raced to silver in the ladies’ giant slalom on Tuesday. Ramsay, 24, was in third following the first run, and despite shaving over a second off her time in the second run, was edged off the podium when Turgeon leapfrogged from fourth to second by shedding almost four seconds in her second run.

Fellow Canadian and NextGen athlete Mel Pemble (Victoria, B.C./B.C. Adaptive Snowsports) posted another eighth-place finish, showing the consistency in her racing she displayed in Tuesday’s giant slalom.

Canada’s racers now travel to Sella Nevea, Italy, to tackle the World Championships’ speed events which resume on Tuesday, Jan. 29 with the women’s downhill. 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 Turgeon and her 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.