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Pyeongchang 2018: Great Britain Winter Paralympics preview

Owen Pick will be the flag bearer for Team GB at the Winter Paralympics
Image: Owen Pick will be the flag bearer for Team GB at the Winter Paralympics

The Winter Paralympics start on Friday and we have taken a look at the 17 athletes who will be competing for Great Britain.

Team GB finished 10th at the Sochi games in 2014 - winning six medals.

Alpine Skiing

Millie Knight and Brett Wild

Visually impaired skier Millie Knight became GB's youngest winter Paralympian aged just 15 at the Sochi Games.

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Visually-impaired world champion skier Millie Knight hopes to put her test-event crash behind her when she takes to the slopes this week at the Winter Paralympics

Knight and Brett Wild are the current downhill world champions, having won three silver medals and a gold at the 2017 World Championships.

They will compete in five events at the Games: slalom, giant slalom, downhill, super G and super-combined.

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Classification: B2: For athletes with a visual acuity ranging from LogMAR 1.5 to 2.6 (inclusive) and/or visual field constricted to a diameter of less than 10 degrees.

Kelly Gallagher and Gary Smith

Visually impaired skier Kelly Gallagher was the first Brit to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics or Paralympics after winning the women's super-G in Sochi.

Gallagher has recovered in time for Pyeongchang after missing the 2017 World Championships with injury.

Team GB Winter Paralympics team
Image: Team GB Winter Paralympics team

Classification: B3 - For athletes with a visual acuity ranging from LogMAR 1.4 to 1.0 (inclusive) and/or visual field constricted to a diameter of less than 40 degrees.

Menna Fitzpatrick and Jen Kehoe

Visually impaired skier Menna Fitzpatrick will make her Paralympic debut at the Games after her bronze at the 2017 World Championships.

Fitzpatrick and guide Jen Kehoe have won 10 medals from 10 World Cup races this season, including two golds in the final round of competition last month - the best form of any of Great Britain's visually impaired skiers.

Classification: B2: For athletes with a visual acuity ranging from LogMAR 1.5 to 2.6 (inclusive) and/or visual field constricted to a diameter of less than 10 degrees.

Chris Lloyd

Chris Lloyd was injured in a rally car accident in 2011 which left him paralysed from the neck down.

He began skiing as part of his rehabilitation and was back on the snow 12 months after his accident.

In 2013, he became a member of the British Disabled Ski Team development squad and part of the Sochi Paralympic Inspiration Programme.

His achieved 12th place at the 2016 Aspen World Cup Finals and ninth in the World Cup downhill in Innerkrems, 2017.

Classification: LW9-1 - For athletes with upper extremity issues and above the knee amputation or similar problem

James Whitley

James Whitley made his Paralympic debut in Sochi in 2014 where he finished 14th in the giant slalom and 15th in the slalom.

He has achieved top-10 finishes at the World Championships as well as three Europa Cup titles.

Classification: LW5/7-3 Standing - For athletes with both arms amputated or dysfunctional below the elbow, both hands unable to hold or use ski poles.

Para-Nordic Skiing

Scott Mennagh

Scott Mennagh lost both of his legs at 21 when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) while serving in Afghanistan.

Team GB Para-Nordic Skier  Scott Meenagh in action
Image: Team GB Para-Nordic Skier Scott Meenagh in action

Mennagh formerly competed internationally at para-rowing but made the full-time switch to Nordic Skiing in March 2016.

That year, he made his competitive debut for GB at the World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland.

Classification: A skier needs to meet a minimum of one of several conditions including a single below knee but above ankle amputation, monoplegia that exhibits similar to below knee amputation, legs of different length where there is at least a 7 centimetres difference, combined muscle strength in the lower extremities less than 71. Skiers in this class may have Grade 3-5 hip flexion and extension.

Snowboarding

Owen Pick

Owen Pick, who will make his Paralympic debut, lost his leg aged 18 while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan.

In 2017, Pick claimed his first World Championship medal when he finished second in Canada.

Classification: SB-LL2 - For athletes with an impairment in one or two legs e.g below the knee amputation.

Ben Moore

Ben Moore will make his debut at the Games having won silver and bronze medals at the 2015 World Championships.

Classification: SB-UL - For athletes with impairments of the upper limbs.

James Barnes-Miller

James Barnes-Miller was born without a right hand and first tried snowboarding in 2010.

In his 2017 debut, Barnes-Miller finished fourth in snowboard cross at the World Championships in Big White, Canada.

Classification: SB-UL - For athletes with impairments of the upper limbs.

Wheelchair Curling

Angie Malone, Aileen Neilson, Gregor Ewan, Robert McPherson, Hugh Nibloe make up Team GB's Paralympic team
Image: Team GB's Winter Paralympic wheelchair curling team

Angie Malone, Aileen Neilson, Gregor Ewan, Robert McPherson, Hugh Nibloe

GB's wheelchair curling team are reigning medal holders, having claimed bronze at Sochi.

Angie Malone MBE, who won a silver medal in Turin in 2006, is Team GB's most decorated Paralympic curler and is set to take part in her fourth Games.

The team claimed a bronze medal for Scotland at the Wheelchair Curling World Championships in 2017.

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