Brittani Coury returned to the slopes Friday at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games for the banked slalom competition.
Coury won a silver medal in the event at the 2018 Pyeonhchang Games, but she sustained an injury in practice earlier in the week. She struggled on her first run on Friday, and was in 12th place after finishing in 1 minute, 51.34 seconds.
Coury responded and came up with a much better run on her second attempt, crossing in 1:22.30. She passed several competitors and moved into ninth place but was unable to make the podium.
Brenna Huckaby won the event in 1:17.28, capturing Team USA’s first snowboarding gold medal in Beijing. Team China’s Geng Yanhong and Li Tiantian won silver and bronze in 1:17:38 and 1:17:46, respectively.
Huckaby was in second place headed into Heat 2 and needed to make up time at the halfway point of her second run. She flew through the bottom section to finish 0.1 ahead of the Chinese athletes, enough to win the gold medal.
“There were a couple mistakes, but I know that bottom section is where I shine,” Huckaby told Team USA. “So I was like, if I can just lease it and put my edge on hold and keep it together. I knew that I could do pretty well so that's what I did.”
Earlier in The Games, Coury finished fifth in the banked slalom competition, which allowed four snowboarders to race at the same time for the first time ever.
Coury, originally from Aztec, suffered a broken ankle after a snowboarding crash when she was 17. After multiple surgeries to attempt to repair the broken bone and several years of living in pain, Coury had her leg amputated below her right knee in 2011.
Coury was also part of Team Citi this season, helping her focus her efforts on training for The Games.
Before The Games, she praised Citi’s #StareAtGreatness campaign, which aims to positively portrays people with disabilities.
“Citi’s campaign is breaking down stigmas and showcasing what (people with disabilities) are capable of doing,” Coury said. “It’s OK, you can stare. It’s cool my sponsors and so many others are stepping in and helping me change perceptions.”
