Australian skier Jess Gallagher hindered by dizziness at Winter Paralympic Games

AUSTRALIAN skier Jess Gallagher has revealed she is suffering from dizziness which could be related to post-concussion syndrome.

Jess Gallagher in action for Australia.

AUSTRALIAN skier Jess Gallagher has revealed she is suffering from dizziness which could be related to post-concussion syndrome after her seventh place in the women’s visually impaired slalom on Wednesday.

Gallagher was just metres from completing the second of two runs with guide Christian Gieger when she missed a gate, but walked sideways up the mountain to make sure she recorded a finishing time.

Afterwards she said weather conditions in which 30cm of snow fell around her and dizziness made it hard to repeat her bronze medal performance from the same event in Vancouver four years ago.

Gallagher suffered a mild concussion in a training crash in Tarvisio, Italy, last month.

“I’ve been a bit unwell at the moment and was struggling quite a bit with the dizziness and losing my vision, I just didn’t see where the gate was and where Christian was,” she said.

“I don’t have much energy at the moment and unfortunately that was shown in my first run and also in the second I really tried to push hard to get through but dizziness and skiing doesn’t go hand-in-hand.

“It’s mainly in the head, I had a concussion about a month ago so we’re not sure if it’s post-concussion syndrome, but we’re re-assessing and I do have some blood pressure issues so I’m not sure what’s causing it but I’m disappointed it’s reared its head the past few days.

“This comes around once every four years so at the top of the run it’s just about telling yourself you’ve got to get through it and we were doing that, and unfortunately just came unstuck there.”

Gallagher, who still has the giant slalom to come on Sunday, said she pushed it too hard in her second run in a bid to make up lost seconds from the first.

“We went out on that second run pretty hard and unfortunately with the weather conditions my goggles got completely obliterated,” she said.

“Conditions are tough but that’s ski racing and you have to be able to come out on any day and put down runs regardless of the weather.”

Gallagher, 27, became Australia’s first female Paralympian to medal at a winter Games in Vancouver in 2010.