Having won 2 bronze medals at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Karolina Wisniewska now has 8 Paralympic medals to her name from 3 Paralympic Games (Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010). She is also an Overall World Cup Champion, a World Champion and the first ever Paralympian to be inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame.

Karolina was born in Warsaw, Poland with mild cerebral palsy which affects the muscle coordination, strength and flexibility in her legs as well as her balance. After moving to Calgary, Alberta at the age of 5, she started skiing as a form of physical therapy. At 6 she was racing with the Sunshine Ski Club in Banff, Alberta and continued with that club until she was named to the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team (CPAST) in 1995.

In her first season on the international stage she clinched the World Championship title in Super-G and continued to dominate the World Cup circuit across all disciplines for many years. Her number of World Cup wins over the years contributed to her being selected as an inductee into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame. Other career highlights have included: The Overall World Cup Title for the 2002/2003 season as well as 1 World Championship title and a total of 5 World Championship podiums.

Karolina’s proudest sporting accomplishment came on March 15, 2010 when, after a challenging comeback from injury and retirement that she began in 2007, she won the Bronze medal in Slalom at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Slalom has always been closest to Karolina’s heart and this, her first podium in Slalom since she came back, made it all worth it! After opening the Games with that first Bronze, the cherry on top was winning yet another Bronze in Super-Combined on the last day of competition.

Like the 2010 Paralympic Games, Karolina’s skiing career has been full of ups and downs, but we hope you will continue to follow and support this great Canadian athlete in the 2010/2011 season which includes the World Championships in Sestriere, Italy in January.