Edited by Rachel Heung
With the most recent Paralympics games having concluded on the 13th, one of the event winners of the Paralympic Games is Ebba Årsjö, a swedish para skier who won 2 gold medals in the super combined and slalom standing events, as well as won the bronze medal in the downhill standing event. This is the first Paralympics that she has participated in, and had previously won the 2021 World Para SnowSports Championships with gold medals in the slalom, and parallel event (wikipedia, n.d.).
Born January 2001, Årsjö first started alpine skiing at age six in Norrköping, Sweden. She had been participating in able-bodied alpine skiing, but due to her Klippel–Trénaunay syndrome (resulting in muscle reduction in her right leg), she was unable to progress further, with her right leg being too weak to continue competing. She hadn’t considered para sports, and after discussing skiing opportunities with her family she had decided to continue skiing, where the International Olympic Committee was contacted and she made her international debut in 2019 (International Olympic Committee, n.d.).
She was initially scared of being classified as a para athlete, having a history of competing against able-bodied skiers as well as having to tell others about her condition. But after being classified, she says “it was life-changing for me and my family” , changing the way she looks at herself and giving her confidence in her appearance. Her story goes to show to n-ebba give up on a dream, as with persistence and determination it will come into being.
Bibliography
Engholm/TT, L. (2022, March 7). Årsjös succé – första svenska guldet på åtta år: SVD.
SvD.se. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.svd.se/guldchans-for-ebba-arsjo
Ebba Aarsjoe - Alpine Skiing: Paralympic athlete profile. International Paralympic
Committee. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.paralympic.org/ebba-
Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, March 12). Ebba årsjö. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 15, 2022,
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