SINI Skier Kelly Gallagher wins a Bronze Medal

In cold and clear conditions with temperatures of -16c at the European Cup slalom race today in Kuhtai, Austria, the British pairing of SINI athlete Kelly Gallagher (B3) and her new guide Charlotte Evans had a brilliant start to their professional partnership, claiming the Bronze behind Slovakian Henrieta FARKOSOVA and Russian Alexandra FRANTESEVA.

In a truly world class field, the british duo missed out on the Silver medal by just a third of a second, finishing in a time of 2.29.35 to Franteseva's 2.29.02.

Gallagher after the race said:
"I'm so happy to be back on snow after the Paralympics, Charlotte and I have been working hard together since November and so its great to start the season off like this, the support and set up in BDST and at home in Northern Ireland in the Sports Institute have helped us progress since March. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Giant Slalom and skiing with Charlotte at World Championships in January. Hopefully we'll have even better news form us and our teammates tomorrow!"

"Gallagher and Evans have only skied together a few weeks and so these early results prove there is much more to come" said Coach Jane Stevens.