Keith Gabel of Utah, and USA ‘GOAT’ Laurie Stephens, retiring after his 4th, her 6th Paralympics in Milan Cortina

USA's six-time Paralympian Laurie Stephens at her final Games in Milan Cortina. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

CORTINA, Italy — U.S. Ski and Snowboard athletes Keith Gabel, Para Snowboarder from Utah, and Laurie Stephens, Para Skier living in Sun Valley, have raced in their final Paralympics in Milan Cortina, capping off their Games for Gabel, and a grand total of six for Stephens.

It wasn’t a given for either of them to qualify for these Paralympics, and it’s super special to both; they do not take the opportunity to represent their country one last time for granted.

Gabel, 41, won the World Championships in 2019 in Para Snowboard Cross in his classification of SB-LL2. The LL stands for Lower Limb.

At 21, Gabel was working as a welder when he crushed his left foot in an industrial accident that led him to have his left leg amputated.

In Sochi 2014, in Para Snowboard Cross, he brought home bronze to Ogden, Utah, where he grew up. Then he earned a silver medal in Para Snowboard Cross at the PyeongChang 2018 and finished sixth in the Banked Slalom.

In Beijing 2022, Gabel got seventh in Para Snowboard Cross and matched that result with a seventh in Para Banked Slalom. The most memorable moment for him was being voted by his American Paralympic teammates as the Closing Ceremonies Flag Bearer. That was one of many experiences that got him a spot at the Utah Olympic Park a couple of years ago in the Home Town Heroes exhibit of the Olympic/Paralympic Museum.

“Being chosen as flag bearer is one of the biggest honors you can get,” He told TownLift and a group of English Language Journalists from around the world in the Finish Area on Friday. “It’s such a small percentage of people who get the opportunity. Think about it this way. So so few people ever make it to the Olympics or Paralympics. Even fewer make it onto the podium, but even fewer than that make it as Flag Bearer, and I think it just says something about who the person is when they get chosen for that.”

In Milan Cortina, he got an eighth-place finish in Para Banked Slalom, and he ended his Para Snowboard Cross career with a fifth-place finish.

Gabel is a two-time Para X Games gold medalist.

“Growing up in Utah is the reason I am the rider I am. Powder Mountain and Snowbasin are the two. My son JohnPaul is named after a run at Snowbasin, I always said, like, that run is so sick, not just the groomed side, but all the non-groomed, off-piste, as they say here in Europe, it’s just such a cool run. So I always said, if I had a boy, I was gonna name him John Paul. And then, luckily, my wife was like, Yeah, you can name him. So, I love those mountains that’ll always be home and have a special place in my heart.”

His wife and six-year-old son were at the Paralympic event in Milan Cortina to see him compete.

Talk turned to Gabel’s future plans as he’s moved to Aspen, to which he replied, “I can’t say that this will be the last time I’ll be floating around a course or something like that.” He also works on public speaking engagements.

Stephens, 42, who has Spina Bifida, grew up in New England and in Milan Cortina interviews with her Team USA Paralympic Teammates is referred to as “The G.O.A.T.” She’s been an elite-level ski racer since she was 15 and has been traveling to Park City to race in the annual National Ability Center’s Huntsman Cup for most of the years between then and now.

At the 2002 Salt Lake Paralympics, the teenager was featured in a documentary; she was a spectator and an obvious up-and-comer.

“When I heard Italy was going to be this year’s host. I always wanted to end my career in Italy, because I started my career in Italy in Torino 2006, so I thought it would be cool to have those bookends of Paralympic Games in Italy,” she said to the media, including TownLift, in the Finish Area on Saturday.

In Torino, she won the first of her seven total Paralympic medals, which was a gold in Downhill, and then another gold in Super-G, followed by a silver in Giant Slalom.

At the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver, Stephens won a silver medal in Downhill.

In the Sochi 2014 Paralympics, she won not one, not two, but three bronze medals in the Downhill, Super-G, and Giant Slalom events.

She also won the bronze medal in Downhill at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics. She went on to ski in her fifth Games in Beijing 2022.

Those accomplishments contributed to Stephens being voted by her teammates as the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies Flag Bearer here in Milan-Cortina.

Asked about the growth of the Paralympic Movement since she started, she said, “This crowd is huge compared to what I remember at my first Games. Yeah, and just how much more recognition there is, and I mean, just you journalists here, asking us these questions is a huge deal. Thank you.”

“If you could wave a magic wand and not have a disability, but also not be an Olympian or Paralympian, TownLift asked, would you choose that life or your life? “Definitely my life. I’ve never really thought of my disability as something that kind of kept me from being able to do things. I just have to do them a little differently. So, I don’t really see being disabled as a bad thing. It’s given me so many great opportunities. I mean, I’m here at the Paralympic skiing in Italy, it’s awesome.”

Talk turned to future plans, and her future is now, as she’s already on the Para Athlete Advisory Board at U.S. Ski & Snowboard, and Stephens is the Alpine Ski Race Coach in Sun Valley for the able-bodied U14 girls and boys.