If not for the terror attacks of 9/11, it's unlikely that Caitlin Sarubbi would be either a Paralympic-level ski racer, or a Harvard University student aiming at becoming a sports physician.

Sarubbi, 20, raced in the Paralympics here as a member of the USA Paralympic alpine team, in events for the visually-impaired. But that the New Yorker even became a skier was due to happenstance of the most dramatic kind.

Sarubbi's New York city firefighter father John was a first responder on September 11, 2001, when terrorists flew two jets into the World Trade Center in New York.

To thank him for his efforts that day, and for six gruelling weeks in the aftermath at ground zero, the Sarubbi family was invited to Breckenridge, Colorado, where Sarubbi skied for the first time with the the Disabled Sports USA foundation.

"I immediately fell in love with it, the feeling of freedom I got was just incredible," she told AFP.

"I felt like I was on top of the world, and that nothing could ever stand in my way. For the first time I felt there was no boundaries, no limits, no disability. I was free to do whatever I wanted," she wrote in her blog.

Sarubbi said she decided she wanted two things: to race on the American Paralympic team, and to study medicine at Harvard.

As it turns out, her skiing career played a role in her admission to Harvard three years ago. "Being accepted to Harvard is not based only on academics anymore, so having the ski aspect and being a visually-impaired skier helped," she said.

Sarubbi attended Harvard for just one semester before being granted leave to race full time for the past year. She plans to return to school full time in September.

"I'm planning on going into pre-med, then going into sports medicine and being my team's doctor," she said with a happy laugh.

Sarubbi will not take home a medal from the Paralympics here, after failing Saturday to place in her last race on the course at Whistler Creekside, in women's super-combined.

But she earlier told AFP that even without medals, "I'm happy with my performance."

She has raced for just three years, and full-time for only one, and she said she has many more years to try for medals.

Meanwhile team officials said they view her as a star -- partly because she's the most popular woman on the course, being swarmed by some 30 cheering family members and friends every time she reaches the bottom of the course.

"It's just great to have them here, they're super supportive. They've made it a lot easier," she said.

Family support has been a life-long theme for Sarubbi, who was not expected to live when she was born with Ablepharon Macrostomia, a rare genetic syndrome.

Her eyes were damaged at birth, and she has had 57 reconstructive surgeries on her face and hands, "starting when I was three days old," she said.

"But I never really thought of myself as different, I have lived a normal life, with normal goals," she said. "I never let my disability stand in the way."

Sarubbi said her first experience as a Paralympian at the 2010 Winter Games "was so cool," starting with the opening ceremony March 12.

"Walking out into that stadium with 16,000 people screaming and cheering for you, was one of the most amazing experiences of my life."