Veronika Aigner and Lilly Sammer hail last-minute partnership “best Plan B”
While Johannes Aigner was not thrilled with losing his golden streak in the men’s vision impaired class, his older sister Veronika Aigner was in celebration mode after winning the women’s race.
It was the 23-year-old’s second gold and third Paralympic medal at Milano Cortina 2026 despite skiing with new guide Lilly Sammer, who came in as a replacement when her original guide, sister Elisabeth Aigner, was injured in February.
“It’s the best plan B!” Aigner told Olympics.com about their last-minute partnership.
Aigner and Sammer only had one slalom training together, a week before the Paralympics, but the feeling in that session was so good that they came into the alpine combined with confidence, first winning the super-G leg and then the slalom.
“I hate slalom, but we made it! I don’t know why, but we made it and we made it so fast,” Aigner continued. “We’re so happy about everything because slalom isn’t the easiest discipline, but we made it.“
Super-G champion Chiara Mazzel of Italy and her guide Nicola Cotti Cottini were second, 3.06 second behind Aigner and Sammer, with another Austrian duo, Elina Stary and guide Stefan Winter, closely behind in third.
Stary had come within a spot of winning a medal in her Paralympic debut at Beijing 2022, then only 15 years old. Four years later, she managed to get on the podium despite crashing in the super-G race the day before.
“I’m pretty excited it being my first Paralympic medal,” Stary told Olympics.com. “It was so close last time but I’ve improved so much and I’m even happier to be here with my new guide.”
“She did a great job today,” Winter said. “We were focused and I’m super happy for her and for us that we made it to the finish and achieved the medal. That’s what she deserved after this amazing season.“
The Para Alpine competition at Milano Cortina 2026 continues with the women’s giant slalom on Thursday, 12 March and the men’s giant slalom on Friday, 13 March.