Slovakia won gold at the Paralympics: Fantastic Henrieta Farkašová!
Slovak skiing representative Henrieta Farkašová and her guide Martinon Motyk won gold at the Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing on Saturday’s convention for visually impaired women. Another Slovak representative Alexandra Rexová finished fourth.
For Slovakia, this is the first gold medal in Beijing, for Farkašová it is already the thirteenth Paralympic, of which the jubilee tenth gold. The winner and defender of gold from Pyongyang pushed the Chinese Zu to second place with a loss of 2.25 seconds, the British Knight (+3.70) finished third. Rex was more than 5 seconds behind her compatriot.
Slovakia already has 56 medals (16 gold, 21 silver, 19 bronze) out of the winter Paralympics, up to 52 of which have won Paralypal skiing. He defends 11 medals in China, of which six are gold. Four years ago in Pyongyang, Paraalp skiers took care of everything. Far with four gold medals, Far became one of the participants in the Games, she managed to be the first Slovak.
“I felt tense at the start, my legs were shaking all the way. I’ve been shaking so far. When I heard the final time at the finish line, I knew it might be enough to win. After all I’ve been through for years, it was still more emotional than the golden success in Pyongyang, “ quoted the website of the Slovak Paralympic Committee (SPV) as the winner who entered the first competition in the Paralympic disciplines as one of the main favorites. On the margin of the jubilee tenth gold Paralympic medal, she added: “They reminded me a lot more, but I didn’t think of it at all. Skiing. Since I started with it for seventeen years, it’s love at first sight.”
Alexandra Rex, only 16, had her starting number three at her Paralympic premiere. However, she was less than two seconds away on the podium. “It’s a great result for the first start in the discipline we trained the least,” said coach Martin Makovník, who jumped on the slope behind the original guide Eva Trajčíková. She came to the scene later due to covid tests.
Even in the competition of visually disadvantaged men, the Slovak representatives were not far from the medal stages of the winners. Miroslav Haraus and his guide Maroš Hudík finished fourth and Jakub Krako behind Branislav Brozman in fifth place. “Just before the second time, I rolled my skis and lost speed,” described his mistake Krako. “Maybe I could take even more risks, but for us blind, the piste is a bit,” Haraus evaluated his performance.
The results:
Women’s Visually Impaired Congress: 1. Henrieta FARKAŠOVÁ / Martin MOTYKA (SR) 1: 19.50 min, 2. Taqing Zhu / Chan-yan Jen (China) +2.25 s, 3. Millie Knight / Brett Wild (UK) +3.7, 4. Alexandra REXOVA / Martin Makovnik (SR) +5.63
Men with Visual Impairment: 1. Johanes Aigner / Matteo Fleishmann (AUT) 1: 13.45, 2. Mac Marxouc / Tristan Rodgers (CAN) +0.36, 3. Hyacinthe Deleplace / Valentin Giraud-Moine (Fr.) +0.65 , 4. Miroslav HARAUS / Maroš HUDÍK (SR) +2.56, 5. Jakub KRAKO / Branislav BROZMAN (SR) +2.64