UK Sport congratulates Jade Etherington and her guide Caroline Powell after they won a Women’s Downhill silver medal in the Para-Alpine Skiing at Sochi 2014 to secure Great Britain’s first Paralympic medal of the Games on International Women’s Day.
Liz Nicholl, UK Sport Chief Executive, said: "Congratulations to Jade and Caroline on this great achievement – it’s wonderful to see the promise they have shown in World level competitions realised on the Paralympic stage, on their Games debut.
“It’s fantastic for ParalympicsGB to secure a medal on the first day of competition in Sochi. Just as Jenny Jones winning bronze on the first weekend created momentum and a sense of anticipation of what was to come from our Olympic team, Jade and Caroline’s silver will do the same for our Paralympians, who have an exciting eight days of competition ahead.
“This medal on day one has already secured a better performance for this team than at the previous Paralympic Games in Vancouver and is a fantastic platform to build on, as we look towards reaching the overall UK Sport medal target of at least two Paralympic medals at Sochi 2014.
"UK Sport is proud to have invested over £750,000 of National Lottery and Government funding into athletes representing Great Britain at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.”
Etherington and Powell’s silver is Britain's first Winter Paralympic medal since the Wheelchair Curlers secured silver at the Turin Games in 2006, and the first ParalympicsGB medal on snow since Lillehammer 1994.
Etherington joined the British Disabled Ski Team (BDST) development squad in 2009 and started skiing internationally in 2011. Competing with Powell, Etherington won her first World Championship medal in January 2013, with bronze in the Super-G. Later that year, in June 2013, Etherington and Powell joined team mates Kelly Gallagher and Charlotte Evans on ‘Podium’ level UK Sport funding, offering them direct financial support and further access to coaching and sports science and medicine.
The consistent performances of Gallagher and Etherington on the international stage saw the sport receive a funding boost of over £130,000 following UK Sport’s annual investment review of winter sports in summer 2013, bringing total investment for the Sochi Cycle to over £405,000.
This additional funding enabled the BDST to employ a member of staff to oversee the logistics of the programme and ensure that Alpine coach Tony McAllister could dedicate his time to working directly the athletes.
Paralympic year started strongly for Gallagher and Etherington, with both athletes winning medals at the IPC World Cup in Canada in January 2014.
UK Sport has invested more than £750,000 into British winter sport athletes who are competing at the Paralympic Games at Sochi 2014, in the sports of Para Alpine Skiing and Wheelchair Curling, and has set a medal target of "at least two", after the combined range of medal targets agreed with UK Sport funded winter Paralympic sports came to two to six.
Para Alpine Skiing has a target range of 2-5 medals with Wheelchair Curling targeting a range of top 4 - 1 medal.