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| Nationality | Belgian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 20 July 1964 Wilrijk, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Linda Le Bon (born 20 July 1964) is a para-athlete. She competes for her native country Belgium in para-alpine skiing and for Austria in paraclimbing. She competes in the B2 category, which is for visually impaired athletes. [1] [2] She has a vision impairment as a result of macular degeneration. [3]
Her sight guide for skiing is nominally Pierre Couquelet. [3]
Le Bon competed at the 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships held in Lillehammer, Norway, winning the silver medal in the downhill and super-G events.
Le Bon and her sighted guide and daughter Ulla Gilot qualified to represent Belgium at the 2022 Winter Paralympics held in Beijing, China. [4] [5] Couquelet was originally scheduled to be Le Bon's sighted guide but he was not able to compete as her guide after failing a doping test due to an administrative error related to medication that he takes. [6] Le Bon competed in five alpine skiing events. [7] She was the flag bearer for Belgium during the closing ceremony. [8]
Le Bon lives in Mühlbach am Hochkönig and competes for the Austrian Climbing Federation. [9]
She had her competitive debut at the 2023 IFSC Paraclimbing World Cup in Innsbruck where she finished fourth, being merged into the harder B3 category. She won her first medal the following event in Villars, reaching second place in the B3 category. She also competed at the 2023 IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships, reaching fourth place. In the 2024 season, she won her first gold medal (B2) in Innsbruck, after coming in sixth (B3) at the first competition in Salt Lake City. [10] [2]
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the international governing body for the sport of competition climbing, which consists of the disciplines lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing.
Para-alpine skiing classification is the classification system for para-alpine skiing designed to ensure fair competition between alpine skiers with different types of disabilities. The classifications are grouped into three general disability types: standing, blind and sitting. Classification governance is handled by International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing. Prior to that, several sport governing bodies dealt with classification including the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD), International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMWSF), International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) and Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CP-ISRA). Some classification systems are governed by bodies other than International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing, such as the Special Olympics. The sport is open to all competitors with a visual or physical disability. It is not open to people with intellectual disabilities.
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Belgium competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China which took place between 4–13 March 2022. Two alpine skiers competed.
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Paraclimbing is competitive climbing for athletes with disabilities.
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