Sandrine Hamel made her comeback in the Snow Parasurf World Cup on Monday, when she placed third in the incline slalom (LL2 category) presented at the indoor sliding center in Landgraaf, the Netherlands.
After a full season without competition, the Saint-Sauveur snowboarder was consistent and recorded the third fastest time in each of the two runs on Monday. It is the one of his second descent which was the fastest (43.04 s) and which was retained for the final classification.
Home favorite Lisa Bunschoten won with a 0.74 second lead over her closest rival, China’s Nianjia Hu. Hamel, for his part, was 3.17 seconds behind Bunschoten.
“I’m very satisfied and it’s been a year and a half since I last raced, so it was a little hard to have expectations,” admitted the Quebecer. I suspected that there would be more girls at this event, because there is also a classification (of category). I’m really happy with my day and to have reached the podium. ”
A sign that China is taking preparations for the next Paralympic Games seriously, two representatives of this country stood out with second and fourth places.
“They are very talented and it is sure that they made us all work very hard today (Monday),” added the 24-year-old athlete who will be back on track on Tuesday.
At a European Cup played at the same venue, Saskatchewan’s Lisa DeJong was awarded the silver medal in the LL2 category.