Paralympic champions Menna Fitzpatrick & Jen Kehoe: 'Two fun girls who do an amazing sport'
- Published
Theirs is a partnership that is solid on and off the slopes.
They regularly finish each other's sentences, there are plenty of laughs and the word "fun" is used a lot. And they still can't quite believe that they have met royalty and are Britain's most successful Winter Paralympians. But they are deadly serious about their sport.
Welcome to the world of Menna and Jen - skier Menna Fitzpatrick, who has just 3% vision, and her sighted guide Jen Kehoe - and 12 months that have changed their lives completely.
When it comes to visually impaired skiing there are certain attributes you must have. Being fearless is essential when you can reach speeds of up to 100km/h. However, trust is also key when you have to have faith in your guide to get you both down the slope safely, with Bluetooth headsets the main means of communication.
And the British pair seems to have the perfect chemistry - Fitzpatrick, 20, a skier since the age of five who says she likes a challenge, and army officer Kehoe, 35, with her extensive guiding experience and logical mind, and the combination is helping them ski faster and push the boundaries before this week's Para Alpine World Championships.
The Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics were a series of highs and lows for Fitzpatrick, who was born with a congenital eye condition which means she has no vision in her left eye and limited sight in her right, and Kehoe, who was set to guide Millie Knight at the Sochi Games four years earlier before suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury.
Their magic moment came on the final day of competition in Pyeongchang after a Games which started badly with a fall in the downhill, but got gradually better with bronze in the super-G and silvers in the super-combined and giant slalom.
As they stood at the top of the course for the second run of the slalom they knew it was now or never if they were to get the better of the previously undefeated Slovakian pair of Henrieta Farkasova and her guide Natalia Subrtova and win that Paralympic gold medal.
Trailing by 0.66 seconds, they had the run of their lives but then had to wait to see whether the Slovaks could do better. They failed and it left the British duo jumping for joy on the podium.
Opportunities and role models
"When you are at the Paralympics, you don't necessarily know what is going on back home," Fitzpatrick of Wales told BBC Sport. "So when we got back it was a shock that so many people had been watching the Games and engaging with it, which was awesome to see."
Kehoe added: "The moment I realised it is bigger than we had ever expected and how wide the support had come was when we met presenter Dermot O'Leary at the Bafta Television awards.
"He said he had seen us competing on television and thought we were amazing.
"In fact being at the Baftas, where we presented an award, was an incredible experience because you are surrounded by these television personalities who you have grown up watching and it leaves you feeling a little bit like you are among peers."
The pair now find themselves recognised as role models. They are passionate about inspiring the next generation and have made the most of their chance of being in the spotlight.
There have also been trips to appear on Channel 4's Last Leg television show, a day in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, awards ceremonies, countless visits to schools, a promotion for Kehoe to major in the Army and, in November, a visit to Windsor Castle for both women to be presented with their MBEs by the Queen.
But they have been happy to put the posh frocks away and get back to the snow to prepare for this week's World Championships, where they will compete in the technical slalom and giant slalom in the Slovenian resort of Kranjska Gora from Tuesday before switching to Sella Nevea in Italy for the speed events from 29 January.
They will renew rivalries with Farkasova and Subrtova while GB team-mates Kelly Gallagher and Gary Smith and 15-year-old Austrian Veronika Aigner, who is guided by her sister Elisabeth, will also provide tough competition.
"It is nice to come back to where we are comfortable and ourselves," said Fitzpatrick. "We have really enjoyed the opportunities we got and we realise now we are role models for the next generation and to try and make people more aware of our sport.
"Because we kept ourselves really busy talking about our sport it motivates you to go back.
"We are still the two really fun girls who do an amazing sport and just do it because we love it - and that is never going to change. It doesn't feel like work when you love it that much."
As well as encouraging more people with a disability to take up sport, greater media support for Para-sport outside Games years is something Kehoe is particularly passionate about promoting.
"We have a responsibility as ambassadors for the Paralympics and for our sport and as women to go out there and talk about what we are doing," said the Englishwoman.
"It is something we didn't appreciate before we won the gold medal because people didn't see us in that way. In winning the gold medal you put your name on the map.
"But we need the support of all organisations to keep talking about the Paralympics and its successes because there are some amazing stories. It can be forgotten because we are not traditionally a winter sports nation."
The Worlds present a chance for redemption for the pair. At the last edition two years ago, Fitzpatrick had to compete, despite having missed a chunk of training after suffering broken bones in her hand.
They came away with bronze in the giant slalom and both accept that going into this event, their expectations are raised.
"Having a major injury in a World Championship year is difficult, but we needed to go there for funding reasons and knowing we weren't at our best," explained Kehoe.
"It was a bit disappointing so we want to just come back and do better and continue the good work from last year," added Fitzpatrick.
"We have put as much effort into the Worlds as we did prior to the Paras, so to be rewarded for all our hard work would be nice."