ParalympicsGB team for Winter Paralympic Games is announced
- Published
ParalympicsGB will have a team of 25 for the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, the biggest since Lillehammer in 1994. In Alpine skiing defending Paralympic Slalom champion and PyeongChang 2018 multi-medallist, Menna Fitzpatrick will be competing with new guides Katie Guest and Gary Smith. Menna says: "I can鈥檛 wait to get out there and get started!"
Snowboard sees the return of two athletes who competed at PyeongChang 2018: James Barnes-Miller fresh from his recent medal success at the World Championships, and Owen Pick who won a silver medal at the Klovsjo 2022 World Cup. They are joined Ollie Hill - who won a World Championships bronze in the team event and Andy MacLeod. James said: 鈥淚鈥檓 stoked to be a part of the squad for the Paralympic Winter Games, and I鈥檓 just buzzing to get out on the snow in Beijing"
PyeongChang 2018 triple medallist, Millie Knight will be partnered again by Brett Wild for Beijing. They are joined in the Visually Impaired class by Games debutant Neil Simpson who is guided by his brother Andrew. Millie Knight said she was "delighted" to be at the Winter Games, adding, "these will be my third Paralympics and my second with Brett we are both very excited and hope to make you all proud. Wish us luck!"
In the Alpine skiing Standing Class, James Whitley will be looking to build on the experience he gained in multiple events at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018. He first tried skiing at age four. He's also pretty speedy off the slopes too - in 2021 he joined Team BRIT, a British motor racing team comprised of drivers with impairments, competing against able-bodied drivers in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France.
Scott Meenagh became the first British athlete to compete for 20 years in Nordic skiing at PyeongChang 2018. This time Nordic skiing has five athletes selected, demonstrating the progress the sport has made since then. Scott says: 鈥淚鈥檓 extremely proud to have been selected to go to my second Paralympic Winter Games. To be here again four years later alongside four other Para Nordic skiers is just an amazing feeling, and a real confirmation of the progress we鈥檙e making as a country in the sport."
Meet the PaalympicGB curlers! The wheelchair curling team were announced in January ahead of the Games in Beijing in March. ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission for Beijing 2022 Phil Smith said,鈥 I am delighted to welcome Hugh, David, Meggan, Gregor and Charlotte to the ParalympicsGB team bound for Beijing!"
Gregor Ewan, who was part of the team which finished third at Sochi in 2014, has been selected for his third successive Games. Gregor first tried wheelchair curling in September 2007 and just two years later made his international debut in 2009. He'll be hitting the ice in China for ParalympicsGB in March.
Hugh Nibloe is no stranger to the Games having competed in 2018 at PyeongChang. Speaking about the Paralympics he said: "It's the pinnacle of the sport, and it's where you want to be, and I've been to one as a viewer and one as an athlete and I know I want to go to more as an athlete."
Meggan will make her Paralympic debut at Beijing 2022 but it's not her first experience competing on a world stage. A former wheelchair racer, Meggan was selected to compete for Scotland at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Meggan opted to try her hand at something new in 2018, taking up Wheelchair Curling. Her rapid progression has seen her promoted to the ParlympicsGB curling team for Beijing 2022.
A former semi-professional footballer and firefighter, David Melrose joins Paralympics GB as a curler. David has already picked out a postbox in his hometown he wants painting gold - as has become tradition for athletes winning gold at the Olympic and Paralympic Games - if the curling team win big at Beijing. He said: "This time I鈥檓 going to really try and enjoy the full Paralympics event going on, but when I need to, I鈥檒l try and switch myself on, get in the game mode and play how I know I can play."