Hallat's Paralympics come to crashing conclusion

Petra Mickova cheers up boyfriend, Matt Hallet, after he crashed in the Super G run of the men's standing Super Combined event at Whistler Creekside during the 2010 Paralympic Games on Saturday.

JENNA HAUCK/BLACK PRESS

WHISTLER MOUNTAIN – Almost from the moment Matt Hallat left the starting gate Saturday morning Matt Hallat felt off balance. He fought to get it back but the super-G course, the first half of the standing super combined alpine ski competition at the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games, was bumpy compounding his struggle. Finally his ski slipped out from underneath him and he slid off the course.

The Games had come to an abrupt end for Hallat, a native of Anmore who graduated from Pinetree Secondary in Coquitlam and is now a Squamish resident. The disappointed Hallat sat in the snow on the side of the course for several minutes as he tried to regroup. FInally he made his way to the finish line, bypassing the media, and made a beeline to his girlfriend Petra Mickova, who is from the Czech Republic and has been volunteering as a course groomer, to get an extended comforting hug.

"That one definitely hurt. It hasn't been the greatest week for me," said Hallat, 25, after returning to talk to reporters. "I needed to sit there on my own for a few minutes."

Hallat, who began skiing when he was 12 after having his right leg amputated because of cancer when he was five, was 11th in the downhill (March 18), 18th in the super-G (March 17) and 31st in his specialty the slalom (March 15). He went into the Games ranked in the top 10 in slalom and downhill.

"It was my best shot and nothing really went right," he said of the slalom race.

The combined was his last chance at a top 10 finish, and, in a split second, eight years of hard work came to a harsh conclusion.

"To put a lot into it, and you don't get anything out of it, it's pretty deflating," said Hallat, who felt his downhill finish was a good result. "[Saturday], I had a shot if I could have skied well, and I'd have been in the top 10 or near the top 10 after super-G and then slalom is my best event. I would have had a shot at it, that's for sure."

Hallat is leaning toward continuing on so he can compete in the 2014 Games, but he needs time to make up his mind.

"I think so, but you never know," said Hallat. "So much has happened in the last few months. It's pretty crazy, it's been an emotional roller coaster.

"Your personal highs and lows, and then your team highs and lows. With everything that's going on it just too much to digest right away. It just takes time."

One huge high was getting to carry the torch through Whistler, where he has lived and trained for several years, prior to the Games.

"That was exhilarating," he said. "I still have the picture in my mind looking out and seeing the crowd, and all the the people I got to see along the route with my family there. It was pretty special."

Hallat is happy about the exposure Paralympic sports has been getting in the last few weeks, and years.

"Hopefully we can make more kids with disabilities aware and make a bigger pool of athletes in all sports and build from there."