By William Moncrieff, Communications Officer
With the upcoming Winter Paralympic Games just around the corner (6 – 15 March), Scottish Para Snowsport athletes have made quite the impact on the slopes throughout January. Here’s a round-up of some of those top performances making the headlines in 2026 so far.
Kicking off 2026 was the Slovakian National Championships in Jasna (7th-9th January). Scotland had a range of athletes competing in the championships as part of a Para Alpine Development Team.
First up was Dominique (Dom) Allen. Dom had a fantastic run of results at the championships, showing that he is more than capable of going head-to-head with some of the sport’s rising stars. Dom’s performances earned him three podium finishes across the week – winning two titles in the men’s standing slalom and a silver medal in the Giant Slalom.
Also competing at the championships was Ali Hall, guide for Hester Poole (England). What a week the pair had, as they showcased their skills against some of the best in the business. Just like Dom, the pair did enough to finish on the podium a total of three times across the championships, winning a gold in both the men’s vision impaired Giant Slalom and Slalom.
Ali’s brother, Adam, was also competing as a guide for England’s Sam Cozen. The pair left Slovakia with four medals: two bronze in the men’s Slalom, two gold medals in the Giant Slalom.
Next up was Scott Meenagh who was competing in the IBU Para Biathlon World Cup, in Notschrei, Germany (5-11th January). Scott went into the World Cup having made selection for ParalympicsGB for Milano-Cortina 2026.
Despite a rifle malfunction in the LW12 individual race, Scott delivered an impressive performance, keeping composure to finish sixth in the LW12 Sprint Pursuit ahead of a seventh place finish the following day, in the LW12 Sprint.
Similarly, Para alpine skier Neil Simpson’s season started following his call up to represent ParalympicsGB at the upcoming Winter Paralympics.
He first took to the slopes to compete in the Para Alpine World Cup, in Saalbach, Austria (12th-17th January). As always, the B3 (vision impaired) Para athlete was in good company with brother Andrew Simpson and Rob Poth (England) acting as his guides down the slopes.
Neil and his brother had a blistering start, taking bronze in the men’s downhill on January 13th. He repeated this podium result the following day with guide Rob in the men’s downhill. Two days later, the pair bettered this result to move up the podium and claim silver in the men’s Super Giant Slalom (Super-G).
The brothers from Banchory came together once again to finish the World Cup with another bronze medal, this time in the Super Giant Slalom. Bringing Neil’s World Cup medal tally to three bronze medals and one silver.
Finishing off the busy month for Scottish athletes was Davy Zyw. Davy’s season has gotten off to a very strong start after winning a bronze and silver medal in the men’s UL (upper limb) banked slalom at the Para Snowboard Banked Slalom Europa Cup, in Kuhtai, Austria (6th-17th January).
Snowsport Scotland said, “These results are massive in his quest to qualify for the Paralympic Games and become the first person with MND to compete at that level.”
If two medals in two days wasn’t good enough for Davy, he went on to reach the podium just a few days later at the Para Snowboard Europa Cup in Lenk, Switzerland (21st-23rd January). On the opening, Davy claimed another bronze, this time in the UL (upper limb) Snowboard Cross. Good luck Davy on your selection for the ParalympicsGB squad for the 2026 Winter Paralympics.
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