They wrote history. Nothing less. Saturday March 10, on the first day of competition for the PyeongChang Paralympic Games, Eléonor and Chloé Sana filled a void. The two sisters from Court-Saint-Etienne, a French-speaking commune in Belgium, located in Walloon Brabant, won the first Belgian women's medal since the creation of the Paralympic Games. By taking 3rd place in the downhill, in the visually impaired category, she joined Willy Mercier, the only other Paralympic medalist in Belgian sport, who also reached the 3rd step of the podium in this discipline at the Lillehammer Games in 1994.
On the entry form, Eléonor Sana, 20 years old (on the right in the photo), appears first. Her older sister, Chloé, 2 years older, plays the role of guide. But on the track, the two sisters become one. As proof, the first words of the youngest, Saturday at the finish of the descent, where she preferred “we” to “I” to express her impressions as a Paralympic medalist: “ We feel full of sensations at the same time. We were scared, the stress was enormous, but today we are super happy and very moved.”
Eléonor Sana traces her first memories of her journey as an athlete from childhood. But she explains that she always experienced it in a form of fog. Diagnosed with retinal cancer at the age of 6 weeks, she never let her disability dampen her enthusiasm. She tried gymnastics and swimming. Before switching to alpine skiing as a teenager.
In 2014, the young Belgian decided to enter the competition. She joins a club, Immediate Boarding. She is accompanied by a trainer, the Frenchman Stefan Sazio. Above all, she asks her sister Chloé to serve as her guide.
On the track, their relationship is transmitted through words. Chloé is equipped with a microphone, Eléonor with an earpiece. The first must build a “corridor of sounds” for the second, in which to place their skis and trigger their curves. “ In a race, I just see the first door, and even then not always, explains the youngest. I see a bit like through an empty cereal packet. It's very blurry, not clear at all. But I was born that way, so for me this vision represents normality. »
To listen to Chloé, Eléonor would be the most daredevil in the family. “ She goes for it, she dares more, recognizes the eldest. Her temperament perhaps comes from the fact that she does not see the danger. »
For 4 years, the two “sliding sisters”, the nickname on the circuit, have not only built a sporting project, supported by partners. They also strengthened their relationship and wrote a touching human story. “ We spend so much time together now that we're more connected than ever“, they say in the same voice.
