The 2018 Paralympic Winter Games will take place between 9 to 18 March, PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, the Republic of Korea and the ParalympicsGB team competing at PyeongChang will include seven Scots intent on contributing to the medal tally.
Four years ago in Sochi, the ParalympicsGB team had their most successful Games of modern times, winning six medals. In PyeongChang, Great Britain will be represented by a team of 17, the largest representation since the Turin Games in 2006.
In the run in to the opening ceremony at PyeongChang, SDS will be featuring all seven Scottish athletes and we commence today with the sport of Alpine Skiing and Brett Wild.
The Alpine disciplines at the Paralympic Winter Games are downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super giant slalom (super-G) and super combined. Results are factored to take each athletes’ degree of impairment into account when calculating a time. While there are different factors for the different disciplines in each of the three sport classes, the same factors are used for men and women. Athletes and spectators see the factored time after each run. In all events the winning competitor is the one who, without missing any gates, records the fastest factored time over the course.
Downhill: The most spectacular of the para Alpine skiing disciplines. The vertical drop (altitude distance between the start and finish gates) varies from 450m to 800m, with competitors required to pass through a series of red gates that are used as checkpoints during the descent.
Super-G: Developed in the early 1980s as an event between free downhill descent and the giant slalom. Today, it is much closer in terms of speed and technical features to the downhill discipline. Super-G competitions are held on a slope with a vertical drop variation of 400m to 600m, with the course marked with a minimum of 30 alternating blue and red gates, positioned to enforce changes of direction.
Giant Slalom: Gates are closer than those in the speed events and the vertical drop varies from 300m to 400m. The competition is contested over two rounds using the same slope but with different courses. The starting order in the second heat is created by reversing the first 30 classified places from the first heat or, in some cases, the first 15 classified places.
Slalom: The vertical drop difference can vary from 140m to 220m. The competition is carried out over two heats on the same slope but with different courses, in the same way as giant slalom. The number of gates on the course varies. The slalom requires considerable agility and dexterity since the slopes in slalom competitions are very steep, with thick snow often artificially iced in order to avoid any premature deterioration of the competition surface.
Super Combined: An event which incorporates elements from other events but is itself a standalone event. Contested on a single day, it comprises one run of either downhill or super-G and one run of either giant slalom or slalom. The most common format is one super-G run and one slalom run. The times are combined and a ranking list drawn up.
Glasgow’s Brett Wild will compete in PyeongChang as guide to Millie Knight with their confidence high following medal success at the 2017 World Para Alpine Skiing Championships. The duo will compete in the Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G, Super Combined and Downhill.
Both of Brett Wild’s parents are ski instructors and he started skiing at the age of three while on a family holiday.
A submariner for the Royal Navy, Brett raced for the Scottish junior development squad between the ages of 15-17 and has represented both the Navy and Combined Services teams.
Brett began guiding Millie Knight after a three-day trial in Austria and the pair made their debut together at the World Cup Finals in Aspen in March 2016, where they won the super-G and downhill events as well as finishing third in the giant slalom.
In 2017 the pair claimed an historic downhill victory at the World Championships as well as securing the World Cup title for the same discipline for the 2016/2017 season.
Major results
2017 World Championships, Tarvisio, Italy
Downhill: Gold
Super combined: Silver
Giant slalom: Silver
Slalom: Silver
Read Brett’s athlete profile at https://www.scottishdisabilitysport.com/brett-wild/
Furthr information relating to snowsports in Scotland can be found at https://www.scottishdisabilitysport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Snowsports.pdf
The opening ceremony for the PyeongChang Games will take place on the 9th March and in the lead up to the Games, SDS will be profiling all the Scots on the ParalympicsGB team. There will also be regular updates during the Games on this site and on social media so keep your eyes peeled.