The Spanish Audrey Pascual has won silver in the downhill in the sitting category and ends the eight-year drought without a medal in the Winter Games for the Spanish delegation. The Madrid native was only five hundredths away from the gold, which went to the German Anna-Lena Forster (1:25.79), the great dominator of the international alpine circuit in recent years. The bronze went to the Chinese Sitong Liu (1:31.27).
The Spanish skier confirmed her favorite status to get on the podium and covered the descent with a time of 1:25.84only five hundredths behind the German.
The Spanish flag bearer, first trick of the country’s delegation Milan Cortina 2026an event in which he will compete in four other ski disciplines, ended an 8-year drought without a Paralympic medal in snow for the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE).
The last one was in PyeongChang 2018, because there was no podium in Beijing 2022. It is also the 44th medal in Spanish history at a winter event, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the competition.
“I’m super happy, although angry”
Audrey Pascual has said she is “super happy” about the medal although she has not been able to contain her anger at having been only five hundredths away from the gold.
“It makes me very angry. I lost time in a part called Grande Curva. I thought the snow would be more bearable and I entered with a little doubtful so I went offlinethe next one was difficult for me and I recovered but of course, time was wasted,” he explained at the end of the test, in statements provided by the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE).
“I’m done, I’m angry but it’s my first Games and it’s my first year in this discipline. I knew I could do it, the fight has been between me and the German and I’ve come to nothing. Obviously I’m super happy“added the Madrid native.
Pascual: ”It’s a bittersweet taste, I came for the gold”
The track didn’t help the 21-year-old from Madrid: “The track doesn’t hold up too well, it’s a little softer than other days and it played tricks on me.”
No nerves until the start of the competition: “I was quite calm, I was telling my psychologist these days. In the end we have been working and visualizing this for a long time now. The nerves came later. “I have asked my coach to remind me before starting that I like this, that sometimes we forget.”
“At the end I felt relief, on the one hand, for making my Olympic debut. Then I saw the 0.05 on the screen and I said ‘I can’t believe it’,” he revealed.
The goal is still gold for her: “One goal has already been achieved, but since I was going for gold, this makes me feel even more angry about giving everything in the super-G. I know I can do it and go for the gold“.
“As I reached the finish line, I saw the Also Foundation, which is my family, and I was very excited,” concluded the Madrid athlete.
Pascual, the promise that is already a safe value for Spain
Pascual, 21 years old, was born without tibias due to bilateral agenesis, a rare congenital malformation. At six months he entered the pool on medical recommendation to strengthen his back and muscles for when he began to walk with a prosthesis.
The young athlete tried skiing for the first time at the age of eleven in La Pinilla. The Also Foundation, which provided him with material and instructor, was essential for him to develop a career on skis.
In In 2015 and 2016 she was chosen Promise of the Year in the Santiveri Trophy of adapted skiing, in 2017 he won a gold in slalom and a silver in giant in the Spanish Championship and in 2019 he began competing at 15 years old, the minimum required age, in international competitions, winning the European Cup the first time.
Since then she has accumulated numerous podiums on snow, including at the 2025 World Championships in Maribor (Slovenia), where she was runner-up in slalom, and in the World Cup, in which she has climbed more than a dozen times in this excellent season.
