Kelly Gallagher is a British skier and the first athlete from Northern Ireland to compete in the Winter Paralympics. She is a graduate in mathematics from the University of Bath.[1][2]
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Gallagher is visually impared and competes with a sighted guide. At the 2009 Winter Games New Zealand Gallagher, competing with guide Claire Robb, won gold in her first ever international race, the giant slalom. She selected for the British team at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in February 2010.[3][4] Kelly is funded by the Sport Northern Ireland Athlete Support Programme and supported by the Sports Institute for Northern Ireland and is also backed by Disability Sports NI.[5]
Gallagher was one of seven skiers for Great Britain at the 2010 Winter Paralympics and became the first athlete from Northern Ireland to compete in the Winter Paralympics.[3] At the Games she contested the giant slalom and slalom events for visually impaired athletes.[6] She finished sixth in the slalom but achieved the British team's highest finish, missing out on a medal by a single place and 3.36 seconds in the giant slalom.[7]
Following the Paralympics Gallagher sought a new sighted guide to work with her through to the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi and selected 19-year-old Charlotte Evans from Medway. Evans had been out of the sport after she snapped a cruciate ligament in 2009 but took up the role having become a qualified coach.[8]
In January 2011 Gallagher became the first British athlete to win a medal at the IPC World Championships. Competing with Evans the pair won the silver medal in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom at the event held in Sestriere only five weeks after they started working together.[9] The pairing also won a gold medal in slalom at the 2011 Europa Cup Finals.[10]