• Laurie Stephens was the highest-ranking American on the final day of competition, taking fifth in the women’s sitting slalom.
• Staci Mannella and guide Sadie DeBaun took ninth in the women’s visually impaired slalom.
• Team USA totaled six medals in the Para alpine skiing events at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – The final day of Para alpine skiing at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 featured the women’s slalom events, with Team USA receiving a fifth-place finish from Laurie Stephens (Wenham, Massachusetts). The top-five finish was her fourth of the Games. Other places included Staci Mannella (Randolph, New Jersey) and guide Sadie DeBaun (Park City, Utah) taking ninth in the women’s visually impaired slalom and Melanie Schwartz (Aspen, Colorado) coming in 11th in the women’s standing slalom.

Stephens recorded the eighth fastest time in run one of the women’s sitting slalom with a time of 1:08.89. She went on to jettison herself up to fifth place with a mark of 1:06.33 in run two of the competition to seal her fourth top-five finish in PyeongChang, coming in at 2:15.22. She won bronze in the women’s sitting downhill, took fourth in super combined, and placed fifth in super-G.

The top-10 finish was the third of the Games for Mannella and DeBaun as they took ninth in the women’s visually impaired slalom. The duo raced to a first-run time of 1:04.33 for 10th overall, but used a 1:02.80 in the second run to come in ninth with a total time of 2:07.13. They took 10th in both the giant slalom and super-G.

TODAY’S FINISHES
5th: Laurie Stephens (Wenham, Mass./women’s sitting)
9th: Staci Mannella (Randolph, N.J./women’s visually impaired) and Sadie DeBaun (Park City, Utah/guide)
11th: Melanie Schwartz (Aspen, Colo./women’s standing)

QUOTES
Laurie Stephens
On her experience in PyeongChang...
“Overall, I am pretty happy with my experience here in PyeongChang. The people of Korea have been very welcoming. The slip crews, course workers, and all the staff have done an amazing job.”

On coming away with four top-five finishes at the Games...
“The feeling of finishing so well among the world’s best Paralympic athletes is fulfilling. Having the honor to compete for the United States was an honor, but I’ll always be striving to finish better each competition.”

U.S. Paralympic Alpine Skiing Medal Count: 6
Gold: 1 - Andrew Kurka (downhill)
Silver: 3 - Andrew Kurka (super-G), Tyler Walker (giant slalom, slalom)
Bronze: 2 - Laurie Stephens (downhill), Jamie Stanton (slalom)

RESULTS
Full results from the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 can be found here. Follow U.S. Paralympics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updated information during the event.