Dominic Allen ready to embrace Paralympic experience on debut aged 16

Fife student Dominic Allen has had to rapidly reset his aspirations after being selected for his first Paralympic Games at just 16 years old.

Allen, who studies at St Leonard’s School in St Andrews, is the youngest member of the ParalympicsGB squad for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics. 

The alpine skier only joined the GB Para Alpine development squad in 2023 and has already checked off the main aim of his career. 

“My aspiration was to go to the Paralympics, I’ve ticked that,” he said. “Now it is to go to the Paralympics and be competitive.  

“This is more of an experience to be ready for the next one. My goal is to go to a Paralympics and compete at a high level, with the best of the best.  

“I’m excited to just eat the Paralympic food. I’m going for the pizza and the tiramisu, apparently it is very good! 

“But also to experience all of the Paralympics. I want to try and go to other events and see the other alpine events. I want to go and see curling and snowboarding.” 

Allen will compete in the slalom and giant slalom at his debut Games as part of a squad of 25 Brits heading to Italy. He races in the LW6/8-2 classification for athletes whose movement is affected to a moderate degree in one arm or have one arm absent below the elbow.

The youngster took up skiing in Scotland before his family moved to Switzerland when he was seven. 

There, the love and his talent developed, but it was his return to the UK that set him on the path to the Paralympics. 

He added: “I learned to ski in Scotland, I started there, but also my parents took me abroad to France every year.

“I was also lucky enough that I moved out to Switzerland for seven years, and I started to enjoy skiing and getting into the racing side of it. 

“Four years ago, just as we were about to leave Switzerland, we were coming home, and my parents messaged ParalympicsGB and asked if there was anything I could do because I was alright.  

“I went to a Talent ID event in Hemel Hempstead, and I thought ‘this is going to be good, this is what I can do’.

“From there, it just picked up, and there has been more and more involvement. I really felt like I could do it when I started racing and started training. 

“All of the people I have met while skiing have been very supportive. I have been lucky enough to have an ex-Swiss ski racer as one of my teachers, and then my school had ski Friday, so every Friday in the winter we would go skiing, so that was a boost. 

“The Swiss culture is skiing, they just love it and it is just another part of life for them. Everyone does it, which pushes you.”