WOMEN Anna Droege
MASTERS ALPINE SKIER OF THE YEAR
To say that Anna Droege enjoyed a good season would be
an understatement. She won her Class 10 at the Western
Regionals, Loritz Cup and Skoch Cup; and then swept
all three disciplines at the Skiers Edge Masters National
Championships on her home hill at Sun Valley.
Droege, 70, said: “I think I had a special season because
I got in really good shape, I trained in the early season in
Colorado, and I really like my new ski boots. We also have
an excellent masters program here in Sun Valley. We help
each other, help set courses, freeski and learn from our
strong racers. We have a lot of fun and no one wants to
miss a single day.”
Droege has been racing masters since arriving in Sun
Valley from her native Germany in 1982, and she was previously honored with this award in 1999.
WOMEN Lauren Woolstencroft
ADAPTIVE ALPINE SKIER OF THE YEAR
This award was clear. Woolstencroft, a 28-year-old electrical engineer who was
born without her left arm below the elbow and both legs below the knees, swept
the Vancouver Paralympic Games, winning all five women’s standing disciplines
by margins as large as 12 seconds. Her run in Vancouver made her the most decorated female athlete from any country at a single Winter Paralympic Games.
The North Vancouver native now owns 10 Paralympic medals and has joined
the small group of women (only seven) who have won four gold medals at a single event in the history of the Paralympics. “I definitely accomplished more than
I expected at the 2010 Paralympic Games,” said Woolstencroft, who won gold
medals at both the Salt Lake and Torino Games. “I knew I had it in me because I
medaled in all these events in IPC World Cup and in the Games before. The biggest thing was repeating it day after day with the hectic schedule that we had.”
MEN Gerd Schoenfelder
ADAPTIVE ALPINE SKIER OF THE YEAR
This German adaptive skiing legend’s results speak for themselves. The six-time Paralympian won four gold medals and a silver in Vancouver at his final
Games to bring his career total to 21 Paralympic medals, including a record
15 gold medals. The 39-year-old partial-arm amputee also collected the IPC
World Cup titles for all five men’s standing disciplines as well as this year’s
overall title for the eighth consecutive season after his 12 wins and two second-place results on the tour. Schoenfelder’s efforts led the German team to
claim the most gold medals of any nation at the Vancouver Paralympic Games
and finish second behind Russia in the overall medals race. “I have so much
fun with skiing and racing,” Schoenfelder told DW-World News. “Never say
never, but I plan to retire next year. I will get my coaching license and give my
knowledge to youngsters.”
