Aussie Paralympian hits head during alpine skiing crash

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Cortina: “Down safely. That’s all we want.”

That’s what the mother of Australian para-alpine skier Josh Hanlon was hoping for before the 28-year-old’s first event at the Paralympic Games on Saturday.

Josh Hanlon crashes in the men’s alpine downhill sitting skiing at the 2026 Milano Cortina Paralympic Games.

By the time he went through the starting gates at the top of the mountain, only five of nine competitors had finished the course before him – the same slope the world had fixated on weeks earlier when an already injured Lindsey Vonn crashed badly and was airlifted off the mountain with a fractured tibia.

“When we came here today and saw it, we were just like ‘oh my god, he’s got to go down that’,” Hanlon’s mum, Joanne, said.

But despite her best wishes, Hanlon wouldn’t make it down the course. Instead, not far from where Vonn crashed, Hanlon’s sit ski reversed in on itself, sending him backwards down the mountain and through the barrier fencing.

“It’s a big 90-degree turn. So, it’s very challenging and the conditions – I think the ski just didn’t quite hold for what I tried to get out of it,” he said. “I did hit my head, but I didn’t actually know I’d really hit it until I took my goggles off, and I’ve got a bit of a lump here. But I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Of the total 23 entrants in the men’s alpine downhill sitting event, only 11 would finish.

But Hanlon, who still has four more events on the course, would rather push harder and crash again. Even if it makes for a harder watching experience for his family.

“I don’t want to come down in 10th place, I want to come down in first. So, got to give it everything,” he said. “I’ll probably get a bit of a slap up the head [from mum], but I’m sure she would have calmed down now that she’s seen me sitting here chatting for a while.”

Taryn Dickens of Team Australia competes with guide Lynn Maree Cullen during the Para Biathlon Women’s Sprint VI Final on day one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games.

Hanlon was among the first Australians to compete in a podium potential race on Saturday. Lauren Parker, Matt Brumby, Dave Miln and Taryn Dickens all competed in the para biathlon sprints in nearby Tesero, coming 13th, 26th, 28th and 14th in their respective races.

“I’m not here to put socks on caterpillars, but I reckon that actually would have been easier,” Dickens said afterwards.

In Parker’s race, American Oksana Masters claimed her 20th Paralympic medal and 10th gold medal, while her teammate Kendall Gretsch took silver in her eighth Paralympic medal.

Aleksei Bugaev wins Russia’s second medal of the Winter Paralympic Games.

“I’m quite disappointed,” Parker said after. “They’re amazing athletes, and hopefully, I’ll be one of them maybe in four years time.”

Also on Saturday, Russia won its first Paralympic medals since 2014. Two of its six athletes, Varvara Voronchikhina and flag-bearer Aleksei Bugaev, won bronze in the alpine downhill standing categories.

Australia have more chances to podium on Sunday in the para biathlon and para snowboarding when Ben Tudhope – Australia’s only medallist at the last Winter Paralympics in Beijing – competes.

This masthead has travelled to Cortina as a guest of Paralympics Australia.

The Winter Paralympic Games is broadcast on the Nine Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.