Verena Bentele

In her Paralympic career, visually impaired skier Verena Bentele has won an amazing collection of medals since her first Winter Olympics in 1998, but the highlight was undoubtedly the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver when she won five gold medals – three cross-country and two in biathlon. Her success tasted even sweeter after she suffered a serious accident during training the previous year. 

Now aged 28, she showed her immense versatility in Vancouver by winning cross-country gold medals across a wide range of distances – the 1km Sprint Classic, 5km Free and 15km Free. She also took biathlon gold medals for 12.5km and 3km Pursuit.

As a 16-year-old, Verena won her first four medals at the Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998 – one gold, two silver and one bronze. Four years later, she won four gold medals in Salt Lake City 2002, which she followed with two gold and one bronze medal in Turin in 2006.