Christian Geiger (born 29 March 1988) is an Australian Alpine skier, Paralympic alpine ski coach and
sighted guide A sighted guide is a person who guides a person with blindness or vision impairment.
Sports Paralympic Games
At the Paralympic Games there are various classifications of athletes with a visual impairment.
Rules are according to the Internationa ...
for visually impaired skiers. He was
Jessica Gallagher
Jessica Gallagher (born 14 March 1986) is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the W ...
's guide skier at the
2014 Winter Paralympics in
Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...
, winning a bronze medal. He represented Australia at the 2008 World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships and the
2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, but his career was cut short when he was severely injured in a
traffic collision in 2009. He became
Jessica Gallagher
Jessica Gallagher (born 14 March 1986) is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the W ...
's
sighted guide A sighted guide is a person who guides a person with blindness or vision impairment.
Sports Paralympic Games
At the Paralympic Games there are various classifications of athletes with a visual impairment.
Rules are according to the Internationa ...
in 2013, and guided her to silver medals in women's
slalom and
giant slalom at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in
Thredbo
Thredbo is a village and ski resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, situated in a part of the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, and has been operated by Event Hospitality and Entertainment since 1987.
It is approximately ...
. Geiger was
Melissa Perrine
Melissa Perrine (born 21 February 1988) is a B2 classified visually impaired para-alpine skier from Australia. She has competed at the four Winter Paralympics from 2010 to 2022. At the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, she won thre ...
's guide and coach at the
2018 Winter Paralympics
)
, nations = 49
, athletes = 569
, events = 80 in 6 sports
, opening = 9 March
, closing = 18 March
, opened_by = President Moon Jae-in
, cauldron = Kim Eun-jung Seo Soon-seok
, stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic ...
where she won two bronze medals.
Personal
Geiger was born on 29 March 1988 in
St Leonards, New South Wales
St Leonards is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. St Leonards is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and lies across the local government areas of Municipality of La ...
, Australia,
but lived in Austria until he was eight.
On 26 September 2009, he was involved in a car crash. The vehicle he was travelling in as a passenger slammed into a tree just from his family's home in
Bright, Victoria
Bright (pronunciation: ) is a town in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 319 metres above sea level at the southeastern end of the Ovens Valley. At the , Bright had a population of 2,406. It is in the Alpine Shire local government area. Its pos ...
.
He suffered severe injuries to his arm, spleen and liver as well as serious brain trauma.
As a result, he was in an
induced coma
An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as ...
for a week. It took months before he could walk, talk and eat independently again.
As of August 2011, he had ten operations, extensive physiotherapy and speech therapy.
Skiing
Geiger began skiing at the age of two in Austria,
and made the national team in 2006.
He won numerous Australian Championships during his teenage years, and represented Australia at the 2008 World Junior Alpine Skiing Championships and the
2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.
This changed after his 2009 accident. "I tried to get back to able bodied
ompetitionbut couldn't quite get back to where I was, let alone where I wanted to go," he later explained, "so I had to hang it up."
In 2013, Australian Paralympic Alpine Head Coach
Steve Graham
Steve Graham (born 23 January 1962) is a retired Australian Paralympic winter sport coach. He was head coach of Australia's Winter Paralympic team for the 1994 Winter Paralympics, 2006 Winter Paralympics, 2010 Winter Paralympics and 2014 Winte ...
asked Geiger to replace
Eric Bickerton
Eric Bickerton (born 24 April 1962) is a former member of the Royal Australian Navy who took up skiing in 1990, and has represented the Australian military internationally. In 2008, he became Jessica Gallagher's guide skier for para-alpine skii ...
as
Jessica Gallagher
Jessica Gallagher (born 14 March 1986) is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the W ...
's
sighted guide A sighted guide is a person who guides a person with blindness or vision impairment.
Sports Paralympic Games
At the Paralympic Games there are various classifications of athletes with a visual impairment.
Rules are according to the Internationa ...
.
In their first competition, the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in
Thredbo
Thredbo is a village and ski resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, situated in a part of the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, and has been operated by Event Hospitality and Entertainment since 1987.
It is approximately ...
,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, he guided Gallagher to silver medals in women's
slalom and
giant slalom.
Gallagher gave an insight on taking on Geiger as a guide. She said:
Geiger was guide to Gallagher at the
2014 Winter Paralympics in
Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...
,
where they won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired event. They came seventh in the women's slalom visually impaired.
In 2015, he was Head Coach of Australia’s Para-Alpine skiing program.
Following Gallagher's move to
para-cycling
Para-cycling (or Paracycling) is the sport of cycling (sport), cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disability, disabilities. It is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which in ...
, Geiger became sighted guide to
Melissa Perrine
Melissa Perrine (born 21 February 1988) is a B2 classified visually impaired para-alpine skier from Australia. She has competed at the four Winter Paralympics from 2010 to 2022. At the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, she won thre ...
.
At the
2018 Winter Paralympics
)
, nations = 49
, athletes = 569
, events = 80 in 6 sports
, opening = 9 March
, closing = 18 March
, opened_by = President Moon Jae-in
, cauldron = Kim Eun-jung Seo Soon-seok
, stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic ...
in
Pyeongchang
Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...
, Geiger guided Perrine to bronze medal wins in the women's super combined and giant slalom visually impaired events. The pair also placed fourth in the slalom and fifth in the downhill and super-G visually impaired.
In November 2018, Geiger won the
New South Wales Institute of Sport
The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is a high performance sports training institute located in New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales government agency provides world leading coaching, performance support and daily training ...
7News Spirit of Sport Award, as voted by the public, for his act of generosity in flying Perrine’s family to PyeongChang, allowing them to watch her compete at the Winter Paralympics.
At the 2019 Australian Ski and Snowboard Awards, Geiger with Ryan Pearl was named Coach of the Year (Paralympic disciplines).
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geiger, Christian
1988 births
Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics
Alpine skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
Australian male alpine skiers
Living people
Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics
Medalists at the 2018 Winter Paralympics
Paralympic alpine skiers for Australia
Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia
People from the North Shore, Sydney
Skiers from Sydney
Paralympic medalists in alpine skiing
Sportsmen from New South Wales