Matthew Stockford

Matthew Stockford
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Paralympic Alpine skiing
Winter Paralympic Games
1992 Albertville/Tignes Downhill LW10
1992 Albertville/Tignes Giant slalom LW10
1992 Albertville/Tignes Super-G LW10
1994 Lillehammer Super-G LWX

Matthew Stockford is a British former Paralympic skier who won medals at the 1992 Winter Paralympics and 1994 Winter Paralympics.[1] Stockford broke his back in a skiing accident in 1985. He competed using a monoski – a specially fitted chair over a single ski that includes seat belts and other strapping, as well as a suspension device to minimise wear and tear on the skier's body.[2]

Skiing career

In his first competitive event after his accident, The 1990 World Disabled Ski Championships, Stockford won a gold medal in the downhill and bronze in the slalom.[2]

Paralympics

Stockford first competed at the Winter Paralympics during the 1992 Games held in Tignes and Albertville, France. He took part in four alpine skiing events, downhill, giant slalom, super-G and slalom, in the LW10 classification for athletes who race sitting down.[3][4] He won three bronze medals in the downhill, super-G and giant slalom events.[1][5] After Stockford won the bronze in downhill, the British delegation filed a protest claiming that the two American skiers ahead of him should not have been in the LW10 category.[6] The medical committee rejected the protest on the grounds that all classifications had been determined at the start of the competition. In the slalom Stockford finished fourth, missing out on a medal by one position and 10.65 seconds.[7]

At the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Stockford again competed in downhill, giant slalom, super-G and slalom events in a classification now renamed as LWX. He failed to finish in the downhill slalom or giant slalom but picked up his fourth Paralympic bronze medal in the super-G.[3] Since this bronze, and the four others won by British athletes in Lillehammer, Britain has failed to win any Paralympic alpine skiing medals.[8]

Stockford now runs a successful property business in London. In 2006 Stockford became the manager of British Olympic skier Chemmy Alcott after meeting her sister-in-law's father at a party. He helped Alcott set up a team of support staff and raise funding from private sources with the aim of winning a medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Brief History" (PDF). British Disabled Ski Team. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  2. 1 2 Abood, Thomas (22 September 1990). "Winter park – Jackson Village ... the two world championships ... Alpine and Nordic skiing". Palaestra. 6 (5): 34–37. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  3. 1 2 Results for Matthew Stockford from the International Paralympic Committee
  4. ↑ "Sport Profiles, Alpine Skiing". Australian Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Ramsay, Alix (4 April 1992). "Champion tries a secret weapon". The Times. Sport section.
  6. ↑ Ramsay, Alix (30 March 1992). "Ski team protests". The Times. Sport section.
  7. ↑ "Results Tignes-Albertville 1992 Paralympic Winter Games Alpine Skiing Men's Slalom LW10". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  8. ↑ "Kelly Gallagher claims fourth at Winter Paralympics". BBC Sport. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  9. ↑ "Team Chemmy: Bankrolling Alcott's blonde ambition". The Independent. 1 November 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  10. ↑ "Chemmy Alcott: Beauty and the piste". The Express. 24 January 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
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