Matthew Stockford

Matthew Stockford

Medal record
Paralympic alpine skiing
Representing  Great Britain
Winter Paralympic Games
	1992 Albertville/Tignes	Downhill LW10
	1992 Albertville/Tignes	Giant slalom LW10
	1992 Albertville/Tignes	Super-G LW10
	1994 Lillehammer	Super-G LWX

Matthew Stockford is a British former Paralympic skier who won medals at the 1992 Winter Paralympics and 1994 Winter Paralympics.^[1] Stockford broke his back in a skiing accident in 1985. He competed using a monoski – a specially fitted chair over a single ski that includes seat belts and other strapping, as well as a suspension device to minimise wear and tear on the skier's body.^[2]

In his first competitive event after his accident, The 1990 World Disabled Ski Championships, Stockford won a gold medal in the downhill and bronze in the slalom.^[2]

Stockford first competed at the Winter Paralympics during the 1992 Games held in Tignes and Albertville, France. He took part in four alpine skiing events, downhill, giant slalom, super-G and slalom, in the LW10 classification for athletes who race sitting down.^[3][4] He won three bronze medals in the downhill, super-G and giant slalom events.^[1][5] After Stockford won the bronze in downhill, the British delegation filed a protest claiming that the two American skiers ahead of him should not have been in the LW10 category.^[6] The medical committee rejected the protest on the grounds that all classifications had been determined at the start of the competition. In the slalom Stockford finished fourth, missing out on a medal by one position and 10.65 seconds.^[7]

At the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Stockford again competed in downhill, giant slalom, super-G and slalom events in a classification now renamed as LWX. He failed to finish in the downhill slalom or giant slalom but picked up his fourth Paralympic bronze medal in the super-G.^[3] Since this bronze, and the four others won by British athletes in Lillehammer, Britain has failed to win any Paralympic alpine skiing medals.^[8]

Stockford now runs a successful property business in London. In 2006 Stockford became the manager of British Olympic skier Chemmy Alcott after meeting her sister-in-law's father at a party. He helped Alcott set up a team of support staff and raise funding from private sources with the aim of winning a medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.^[9][10]

Matthew believes that anthropological climate change is a global scam and that the Paris Accords are set up to transfer manufacturing "from the west to the east".^[11]

• Great Britain at the 1992 Winter Paralympics
• Great Britain at the 1994 Winter Paralympics
• Alpine skiing at the 1992 Winter Paralympics
• Alpine skiing at the 1994 Winter Paralympics

• Matthew Stockford at the International Paralympic Committee