A THRILLED young Beechworthian won the Division two Girls Alpine Multiclass Giant Slalom in the Snow Australia National Schools Championships in Perisher last week.
Beechworth Secondary College year nine student Liana France representing her school clinched a gold medal.
Liana said winning the race had meant a lot as a win had been a goal for many years.
“It was an honour to win especially as skiers are the best from around Australia,” the 15-year-old said.
“The discipline of this race was Alpine Giant Slalom so the course set for us was a physical challenge and I think my biggest struggle was to make some of the turns were pretty tight.”
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Having nailed the win, Liana said she now has her sights on competing in international competitions.
“I am going to head to Europe for competitions as well as participate in an intensive training program run by International Racer (IR),” she said.
Independent alpine ski racing organisation IR supports the ambitions of young racers.
“I intend to gain some more competition points which will increase my chances of getting picked up by the Paralympic team which is my end goal,” Liana said.
“In December this year I am going to Italy with International Racer to do some skiing summer training in the Dolomites."
Liana said her aim is to win gold for Australia at the Winter Paralympics Games.
"I am already starting my journey to get there as I have done para futures which is a scouting camp for young talent as well as I was training with the Paralympic high-performance team for a week in Falls Creek," she said.
Liana - a Falls Creek Race Club member - has also competed by invitation in the Australian Children’s Carnival.
“The carnival is for the best young skiers out there from all ski race clubs competing against each other representing their clubs,” she said.
“This is in addition to the interschools state competition which then qualified me for Nationals."
Liana said she has loved the sport since a two-year-old when she watched an episode of Peppa Pig with skiing in the show.
“I was hooked, so we went to the Aldi ski sale and for my third birthday my parents put me on skis, and I immediately fell in love with it," she said.
“All of next summer I would put on two pairs of socks and slide down our hallway and practice my pizza’s and French fries.
“Every year we kept going back to the snow and now here we are and I’m still in love with it.
"Skiing is such a great sport as you get this rush of adrenaline and when you’re in full control of your skis it feels like you’re flying down the run, and it really is an unmatched feeling."
Australian Para-Alpine Team member - visually impaired athlete Georgia Gunew - presented the gold medal to Liana at the championships.
