Victoria Pendergast

Victoria "Tori" Pendergast (born 25 January 1991) is an Australian F58 athletics shot put competitor and LW12.1 classified Para-alpine skier. When she competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, she became Australia's first female sit skier at the Winter Paralympics. She competed in two events, finishing seventh in women's slalom sit-ski and tenth in the women's giant slalom sit-ski. She also won a silver and a bronze medal in the slalom and super-G at the 2013 North America Cup, and a bronze medal in the giant slalom at the 2013 IPC World Cup in Thredbo.

Victoria Pendergast
Victoria Pendergast April 2013
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born (1991-01-25) 25 January 1991
Gosford, New South Wales
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportPara-alpine skiing
Disability classLW12
Event(s)Downhill
Super-G
Giant Slalom
Slalom

Personal

Victoria "Tori" Pendergast was born in Gosford, New South Wales on 25 January 1991.[1] She has sacral agenesis, and was born missing the lower part of her spine.[1] She attended Loreto Normanhurst, and in 2013 she graduated with a degree in business and marketing from the University of Technology, Sydney.[1][2] In early 2014, she was working as a telemarketer.[1] She is an F58 classified shot put competitor who finished 8th in the Girls Shot Put Disability Open at the 2004 Schools Athletics Championships.[3]

Skiing
Victoria Pendergast competing in the Super G during the second day of the 2012 IPC Nor Am Cup at Copper Mountain

Pendergast is an LW12.1 classified skier,[4] the classification for athletes "with good sitting balance... and double above knee limb loss."[5] She was spotted on the slopes by officials from Disabled Winter Sports Australia during a family ski holiday.[1] This led to her participation in Athlete Development Programs run by Disabled Winter Sports Australia.[2] Born missing the lower part of her spine, she is suited to sit-skiing and embraced hurtling down a mountain at 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) in a custom built sled.[6] She made her international debut at the New Zealand Winter Games in 2010.[1]

During the North American 2010/2011 skiing season, Pendergast was based in Avon, Colorado, and competed in eight races, where she earned four bronze medals and a silver medal, and finished the season ranked 66th.[7] That season, she also participated in a 2-month long national development team training camp in Colorado.[2] As a member of Australia's development team, she competed at a competition in December 2012 at Copper Mountain,[8] and at the 2012 Japan Para Alpine Ski Championships in the women's sitting super-G event.[4][9]

Pendergast won a silver and bronze medal in the slalom and super G at the 2013 North America Cup, and a bronze medal in the giant slalom at the 2013 IPC World Cup in Thredbo.[6] By February 2014, she was ranked 12th in the world in downhill and giant slalom, and 13th in slalom and super-G.[5]

At the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Pendergast became Australia's first ever female sit skier at the Winter Paralympics.[10] She competed in two events, finishing seventh in the women's slalom sit-ski and tenth in the women's giant slalom sit-ski.[11]

Pendergast competed in three Women's Sitting events at the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Panorama, Canada. She finished sixth in the Slalom but did not finish the Super-G and Giant Slalom.[12]

At the 2018 Winter Paralympics, her second Games, she finished fourth in the Women's Downhill Sitting and eighth in the Women's Giant Slalom.[13][14]

At the 2019 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, she competed in two events but failed to finish.[15]

She announced her retirement from alpine skiing in September 2020.[16]

References
  1. "Victoria Pendergast". Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  2. "Victoria Pendergast" (PDF). Sydney, Australia: University of Technology, Sydney. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  3. MATP (22 June 2004). "Your Games: School and Weekend Club Results – Part Two of Four". Daily Telegraph. p. 38.
  4. "2012 Japan Para Alpine Ski Championships" (PDF). Japan: Japan Paralympics. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  5. "2014 Australian Paralympic Winter Team Media Guide" (PDF). Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  6. Lulham, Amanda (15 November 2013). "Paralympic ski newcomer Tori Pendergast setting her sights on winning a medal at Sochi". Courier Mail. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  7. "The Next Generation of Ski & Snowboarding Racing!". Ski Racing : Nastar.com. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  8. "Winning start to winter season". New South Wales, Australia: APC Corporate. 16 December 2011. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  9. "IPC Celebrates Women in Alpine Skiing". International Paralympic Committee. 13 August 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  10. "Australia names Winter Paralympics team for Sochi including 14-year-old Para-snowboarder Ben Tudhope". ABC News. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  11. "Sochi 2014 Latest Results". Australian Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  12. "Victoria Pendergast". International Paralympic Committee Athlete Profiles. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  13. "Victoria Pendergast". International Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  14. "Australian Paralympic Winter Team for PyeongChang 2018 announced". Australian Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  15. "Tori Pendergast Results 2019 World Para Skiing World Championships". International Paralympic Committee website. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  16. Houston, Michael (6 September 2020). "Dual Para-athlete Pendergast announces retirement from skiing". Inside the Games. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
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