Snow Australia celebrates one year to go until 2022 Winter Paralympics

Snow Australia is today celebrating one year to go until the 2022 Winter Paralympics begin.

One athlete who knows the feeling of growing anticipation well is Para Alpine skier Mel Perrine. Mel made her Paralympic debut in 2010 at the Vancouver Games, before going on to compete at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.

Perrine said that while delays to international competition have made planning a little difficult this time, having an achievable goal in sight gives perspective.

“It is really exciting, but also a little bit nerve wracking considering we haven’t been on snow as much as I would like,” Perrine said.

“It definitely does make goal-setting a bit easier, being able to plan and all that kind of stuff and it is nice to have a tangible goal to work towards,” she said.

The 2022 Games will be Perrine’s fourth, but the first with her sighted guide Bobbi Kelly.

“Bobbi and I have been working together since the end of 2018 and although we have competed at a World Championships together and had great success, we both feel like our partnership has evolved more since then,” Perrine said.

“We’re definitely looking forward to the hype of the Paralympics and seeing what we can do this time around. We are both really stoked,” she said.

Perrine carried the Australian flag at the closing ceremony in 2018, but it isn’t that feeling she is most looking forward to. It’s being back on snow again that she really misses.

“I haven’t been in Australia for this long since 2008. I am really excited to get on snow in Australia and Europe and really focus on training, getting back into some gates and diving in, wholeheartedly prepping for the Games.”

A recent team camp in Jindabyne also gave Perrine some motivation, and she believes it has also spurred on her teammates to keep working towards the Paralympic dream.

“We usually spend months a year living and training together so not being around those guys for so long has been hard,” Perrine said.

“They are another family to me so it was so good to all be in one spot for a while together. It made things really special and amped everybody up as well, got us all riled up for the upcoming seasons leading into the Games,” she said.