Kelly Gallagher MBE (born 18 May 1985), is a retired British

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International ...

and the first athlete from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

to compete in the

Winter Paralympics The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The ...

. Gallagher won Britain's first ever Winter Paralympic gold medal during

Sochi 2014 The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Childhood

Kelly was born on 18 May 1985 and was raised in Bangor in the north of

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. Her father, Patrick Gallagher, was an airline pilot. She is a graduate in mathematics from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

Pre-Paralympics

Kelly has

oculocutaneous albinism Oculocutaneous albinism is a form of Albinism in humans, albinism involving the human eye, eyes (''wikt:oculo-#Prefix, oculo-''), the human skin, skin (''-wikt:cutaneous#Adjective, cutaneous''), and the hair. Overall, an estimated 1 in 20,000 peo ...

, is visually impaired and competes with a sighted guide. At the

2009 New Zealand Winter Games The 2009 New Zealand Winter Games was a multi-sport event that was held in the Otago region of New Zealand. It was the inaugural New Zealand Winter Games and was organised by the Winter Games New Zealand Trust. Approximately 816 athletes from 41 ...

Gallagher, competing with guide Claire Robb, won gold in her first ever international race, the giant slalom. She was selected for the British team at the

2010 Winter Paralympics The 2010 Winter Paralympics (), or the tenth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, from March 12 to 21, 2010. The opening ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing ...

in February 2010. Gallagher is funded by the Sport Northern Ireland Athlete Support Programme and supported by the Sports Institute for Northern Ireland and is also backed by Disability Sports NI.

2010 Paralympics

Kelly was one of seven skiers for Great Britain at the 2010 Winter Paralympics and became the first athlete from Northern Ireland to compete in the Winter Paralympics. At the Games she contested the giant slalom and slalom events for visually impaired athletes. She finished sixth in the slalom but achieved the British team's highest finish, missing out on a medal by a single place and 3.36 seconds in the

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant sl ...

Between Paralympics

Following the Paralympics Gallagher sought a new sighted guide to work with her through to the

2014 Winter Paralympics The 2014 Winter Paralympics (), the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Par ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

and selected 19-year-old Charlotte Evans from

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

. Evans had been out of the sport after she snapped a cruciate ligament in 2009 but took up the role having become a qualified coach. In January 2011 Gallagher became the first British athlete to win a medal at the

IPC IPC may refer to: Businesses and organizations Arts and media * Intellectual Property Committee, a coalition of US corporations with intellectual property interests * International Panorama Council, an international network of specialists in ...

World Championships. Competing with Evans the pair won the silver medal in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom at the event held in

Sestriere Sestriere (, , , ) is a ski resort in Piedmont, Italy, a ''comune'' (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the France, French border. Its name derives from Latin language, Latin: ''ad petram sistrariam ...

only five weeks after they started working together. The pairing also won a gold medal in slalom at the 2011 Europa Cup Finals.

2014 Paralympics

Gallagher won Britain's first ever Winter Paralympic gold on 10 March 2014, during the

, Russia. She finished first in the visually impaired

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event ...

competition. She fell during both the super-combined and the giant slalom. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2014 Birthday Honours The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens ...

for services to sport for people with a visual impairment. The

Ski Club of Great Britain The Ski Club of Great Britain is a not-for-profit recreational snow sports club. It was founded on 6 May 1903 during a meeting at the Hotel Café Royal in London. Until the 1960s, the Ski Club of Great Britain was responsible for British Alpine s ...

awarded her with a Pery Medal along with the other medal winners from the 2014 Olympics and Paralympics.

2017 World Championships and 2018 Paralympics

In 2017 Gallagher was selected for the

2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships The 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships was an international disability sport alpine skiing event held in Tarvisio, Italy from 22 to 31 January 2017. The Championship is held biannually by the International Paralympic Committee The ...

in Tarvisio in Italy. Partnered with Gary Smith, she crashed during training on the championship slopes and injured herself after colliding into the safety netting. She sustained a dislocated elbow and three fractured ribs in the accident and was airlifted to a local hospital. Gallagher's injuries ruled her out of the championship and her subsequent rehabilitation meant that she only returned to the slopes in the season leading up to the

2018 Winter Paralympics The 2018 Winter Paralympics (), the 12th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the Internation ...

. Despite losing time to her injuries Gallagher was still able to secure her place in the Great Britain team for the 2018 Paralympics.

2019 World Championships

At the

2019 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships The 2019 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships was an international disability sport alpine skiing event held in two cities: Sella Nevea, Italy from 21 to 24 January with slalom and giant slalom and Kranjska Gora, Slovenia from 28 to 31 January w ...

, Gallagher and Smith narrowly missed out on medals in the slalom and the giant slalom by finishing fourth, being pipped to the bronze by a tenth of a second in the latter by team-mates

Menna Fitzpatrick Menna Fitzpatrick MBE (born 5 May 1998) is a British alpine skier. She is visually impaired having only 5% vision and formerly skied with guide Jennifer Kehoe until 2021. They competed at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang in March 2018 ...

and

Jennifer Kehoe Major Jennifer "Jen" Kehoe (born 15 November 1983) is an author and former professional skier, formerly competing with visually impaired athlete Menna Fitzpatrick as her sighted guide on the IPC World Cup circuit and has represented Great Br ...

. However they claimed their first medal of the championships in the downhill, where they took a silver behind Fitzpatrick and Kehoe. They then went on to take two bronzes in the super-G and combined, increasing Gallagher's number of Worlds medals won to nine.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Kelly 1985 births Living people British female alpine skiers Paralympic alpine skiers for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Paralympics Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Alumni of the University of Bath Visually impaired-category Paralympic competitors Members of the Order of the British Empire Team Bath winter athletes 21st-century sportswomen from Northern Ireland Sportspeople from Bangor, County Down Team Bath Paralympic athletes Paralympic medalists in alpine skiing British blind people People with albinism