Kelly Gallagher (alpine skier)

Did You Know?

• Gallagher won gold in her first international race, the giant slalom, at the 2009 New Zealand Winter Games with guide Claire Robb.
• Gallagher has oculocutaneous albinism and competes with a sighted guide.

Between Paralympics

After the Paralympics, Gallagher sought a new sighted guide and selected 19-year-old Charlotte Evans from Medway, who had been out of the sport since a cruciate ligament injury in 2009 but had become a qualified coach. In January 2011, Gallagher became the first British athlete to win a medal at the IPC World Championships, taking silver in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom with Evans, only five weeks after they began working together. The pair also won gold in slalom at the 2011 Europa Cup Finals.

2014 Paralympics

Gallagher secured Britain's first Winter Paralympic gold on 10 March 2014 in Sochi, winning the visually impaired Super-G. She crashed in both the super-combined and giant slalom. She received an MBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to visually impaired sport, and the Ski Club of Great Britain gave her a Pery Medal alongside other 2014 Olympic and Paralympic medalists.

2019 World Championships

At the 2019 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships, Gallagher and Smith narrowly missed medals in the slalom and giant slalom, finishing fourth in both, with the giant slalom bronze lost by a tenth of a second to teammates Menna Fitzpatrick and Jennifer Kehoe. They claimed silver in the downhill behind Fitzpatrick and Kehoe, then took bronzes in the super-G and combined, bringing Gallagher's total Worlds medals to nine.