Shona Brownlee MBE (born 1979) is a British skier and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Corporal. She won two medals at the

2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships The 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships was an international disability sport competition held in Lillehammer, Norway from 8 to 23 January 2022. It was the inaugural edition of the World Para Snow Sports Championships with para-alpine skiin ...

, and competed at the

2022 Winter Paralympics The 2022 Winter Paralympics (), also known as XIII Paralympic Winter Games, commonly known as Beijing 2022 (), were an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China, from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter ...

Early life

Brownlee is from

Livingston, West Lothian Livingston (, ) is the largest town in West Lothian, Scotland. Designated in 1962, it is the fourth post-war New towns in the United Kingdom, new town to be built in Scotland. Taking its name from Livingston Village, a village of the same name ...

, Scotland. She attended Carmondean Primary School and Deans Community High School. She has a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in music from

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly research and docto ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

RAF career

Bronwlee joined the

in 2012. That year, she injured her ankle in training, which later developed into

complex regional pain syndrome Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS type 1 and type 2), sometimes referred to by the hyponyms reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) or reflex neurovascular dystrophy (RND), is a rare and severe form of neuroinflammatory and dysautonomic disorder ...

. In 2018, she had a leg amputation. Brownlee has been a member of the

Central Band of the Royal Air Force The Central Band of the Royal Air Force is an Royal Air Force, RAF regular band and is part of Royal Air Force Music Services. The motto of the band is ''Aere Invicti'' (Latin for "Invincible with the Brass"). History The Central Band of the R ...

; she plays the

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. Prior to her amputation, she was unable to be part of the

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

due to her injury.

Sports career

Brownlee started skiing in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany in 2018. She later became part of the Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team, and in 2019, she raised £50,000 for charity through the organisation. Brownlee was added to the GB Snowsport squad for the 2021–22 season. As of 2021, she had won 25 medals in Europa and North American Cup, including 11 gold medals, and she was the British champion in all

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

sitting category event. As of December 2021, she was also the highest ranked British skier, and the ninth best in the world. At the

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

, Norway, Brownlee came second in the women's super-G event, and third in the giant slalom event. She was the first Briton to win a medal at the championships. In the same year, she competed at the British Para-Triathlon Championships, winning a silver medal. In February 2022, Brownlee was confirmed in the British team for the

. It was her first

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

, and she was one of 14 Scottish athletes competing. Brownlee came sixth in the super-G sitting event. Sitting in 5th place after the super-G, she did not finish the slalom run of the super combined sitting event, and came ninth in both the giant slalom sitting and slalom sitting events.

Honours

In November 2021, Brownlee was named the RAF Sportswoman of the Year. She was made an MBE in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brownless, Shona 1979 births Living people Scottish female alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 2022 Winter Paralympics Paralympic alpine skiers for Great Britain Scottish Paralympic competitors Sportspeople from Livingston, West Lothian Arizona State University alumni Alumni of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire 21st-century Royal Air Force personnel Women in the Royal Air Force Members of the Order of the British Empire