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ASSOCIATES Presented by the slalom race, but says he thought of it more as a learning experience. "It was overwhelming, and I think that was part of the reason that I didn't do so well in those games," he says. "I was also pretty young. I was so young, in fact, that the equipment that they had — you get the team uniforms — my uniforms were all way too big for me. The smallest size they had barely fit me; my downhill suit was flapping behind me." After Lillehammer, he realized there were a lot more opportunities out there for disabled skiers as the sport started to mature. "They started running an official World Cup series, which consisted of 20 or 30 races throughout the world," he says, which had him travelling to Europe and the United States. It kept him at the top of his game, and in 1998 he competed at the Paralympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. He was 18 and his best result was a seventh-place finish in a slalom race. "'98 in Nagano was another sort of learning and growing experience for me." Balfour enrolled at the University of Lethbridge, but scheduled courses in the summer so he could train in the winter. His dedication paid off. In 2000, he com- peted in the disabled alpine skiing world championships in Anzère, Switzerland, winning the downhill event. He held the world champion title for the next four years. He says that win was a turning point, when the mental element of the sport be- came clearer, and his trips to the podium more frequent. The next year, Balfour won the downhill race at the disabled ski- ing World Cup in Kimberley, B.C. Two days later, Balfour had his first se- rious crash. He tore two ligaments in his knee, and chipped the bone in his femur. "From winning my first World Cup race to basically being laid up on the couch for a few months — it was a big change," says Balfour. Determined to compete in the 2002 Paralympics, less than a year away, he pulled out of university and fo- cused on rehabilitation. He managed to prepare himself, and made it to Salt Lake City, but met disas- ter during a training run. Approaching a jump, he pressed down a split second too early, launching him higher into the air than he had anticipated. "I managed to land, but I landed awkwardly, and I just felt a stinging sensation in my previously injured knee," he says. He finished the race, crashing into the finish area. After- wards, doctors told him had re-torn his anterior cruciate ligament. "We had some frank conversations with the doctors about whether or not I should ski again," says Balfour. He made the decision to take the year off, focus on healing, and getting back to university. He took a few more courses, wrote the LSAT, and before completing his un- dergraduate degree, was offered early acceptance to the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia. With two knee injuries behind him, and an acceptance letter to law school, it was time for Balfour to make a serious decision. Rather than risk further injury, he chose law school. After completing his degree in 2006, he moved to Calgary, where he articled with Blakes. "Blakes had a great reputation, so it was an easy match, for me at least, to come here." The law didn't mean the end of Bal- four's involvement with world class skiing. In 2005, a year before the Games in Tori- no, Italy, he was approached by Team Visa, which sponsors a number of Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Along with Kurt Browning and Nathalie Lambert, Balfour acted as a mentor for Visa's athletes. "It was a good experience, it was a good way to keep connected with the sport, and giv- en my colourful career as an athlete . . . I really felt that I could help the current ath- letes with most of the problems that they would have. . . ." Balfour is again mentor- ing along with Browning and Lambert for the upcoming 2010 Games. The associate says his skiing career has "instilled that sense of hard work and the ability to really focus on a task, and to juggle a few different things at once, whether that's a bunch of different files or work and life in general." There's plen- ty to balance these days. He and wife Di- ana celebrated the birth of their first son, David, last June. Balfour expects his son will take up the sport as well. "It's been such an important part of my life, we'll definitely get him out on the slopes." Are you an associate with an interesting story to tell, or do you know someone who does? E-mail the editor, gcohen@clbmedia.ca, and tell us about it. www. 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