Audrey Pascual has made her debut at the World Cup of Paralympic skiing in Maribor, Slovenia, narrowly missing the podium in the Giant Slalom test. The athlete from Madrid, who trains in Sierra Nevada, put in an excellent first descent and a very tight second, finishing just 0.14 seconds away from the bronze medal.
In the first run, Pascual achieved the second-best time, 1:10.53, just behind Japanese athlete Momoka Muraoka. She set a great rhythm from the start and had the fastest time at the first intermediate point, with a record of 25.03. At the last reference point, she marked the best second chrono, 43.19. German athlete Anna-Lena Forster was close behind Pascual, just 1.50 seconds back.
The fight for medals was intense, and in the second run, Audrey lost her advantage to Chinese athlete Liu Sitong, who struggled to enter the third drawer. In the end, Pascual missed the medal by just 0.14 seconds. The winner of the test was Momoka Muraoka, who beat Pascual by 5.23 seconds.
After finishing fourth, Pascual said, “I made a very good first run. The snow was perfect. In the second, I am happy with the descent, I have not made any big mistakes. I am waiting for the Slalom with great desire.”
The expected debut of MarÃa MartÃn-Granizo
MarÃa MartÃn-Granizo from León made her debut in her first World Cup, after being injured in a training day before her debut in 2023. She finished thirteenth, with the winner being Swedish athlete Eva Aarsje. MartÃn-Granizo said, “It has not been my best competition, but I am happy. At the end, this is my first World Cup. I was quite nervous in the first and I have had some mistakes, but very satisfied to be here for the Slalom, which I like the most.”
The Slalom test is scheduled to take place on February 11 at 10:00, and Audrey Pascual is looking forward to it, having been the world runner-up in 2023.