Russia welcomes the sporting world back to Sochi for nine more days of dramatic winter sport as the Winter Paralympic Games begin on Saturday.
More than 540 athletes from 45 countries will compete for 72 gold medals in five sports, the largest number of countries to take part in the event since it was first held in 1976.
The Games were officially opened by Russian president Vladimir Putin during a spectacular opening ceremony on Friday night, where the Paralympic flame was lit to mark the beginning of the Games.
Despite the escalating political crisis in Ukraine, today sees the focus turn to sport as the first events of Sochi’s Paralympic Winter Games takes place.
Most of the significant action on the opening day will be staged in the early and mid morning with four of the five Winter Paralympic sports beginning their campaigns.
Britain have sent a 15-strong team to Sochi as they attempt to win their first Winter Paralympic gold medal and hopes will be high on the opening day for Kelly Gallagher (pictured), Jade Etherington and Anna Turney, who all compete in the women’s downhill.
Visually impaired skier Gallagher has been in good form this season and represents one of ParalympicsGB’s strongest medal prospects for Sochi.
Set a target of between two and six medals by UK Sport for these Games, Britain’s last Winter Paralympics medal came in 2006, when they won silver in wheelchair curling.
The 2014 curling team, skipped by Aileen Neilson, begin their Paralympic campaign today with a tough opening match against a highly-fancied Canadian team.
With mixed teams, no sweepers but just as much drama, get ready to fall in love with the sport of curling all over again.
Plus, the fast and furious Ice Sledge Hockey competition gets under way with four matches at the Shayba Arena on the Olympic Park.
Great Britain has no representation in this event, but all eyes will be on this highly exciting and frantic para-sport as 2010 bronze medallists Norway take on the Czech Republic, while Canada face Sweden in two of the best games of the day.
World champions Canada go into these games looking to avenge their own dismal showing four years ago.
In front of an expectant home crowd, they went medal-less in Vancouver and the pressure is on to ensure there is no repeat disappointment.
For the first time on British television, para-sports fans will be able to enjoy rolling live coverage of a Winter Paralympic Games and more than five hours of coverage will be shown on the opening day by Channel 4.
Channel 4 will be providing the most comprehensive TV coverage of the event in its history, with more than 50 hours of live action over the ten days of competition, the greatest ever commitment to the Winter Paralympics by a UK broadcaster.
You can follow all the key action from the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics by watching Channel 4 and More4’s extensive daily coverage on TV and online.
Plus via two additional Paralympic Extra HD streams available via the Channel 4 Paralympics website on PCs, laptops, mobiles and tablet devices.
SOTB’s TV viewing guide to Day 1 of the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games below:
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DAY 1: SATURDAY 8th MARCH
05:45 – 09:00 |
ALPINE SKIING & WHEELCHAIR CURLING Presenters: Kelly Cates & Arthur Williams |
Channel 4’s live coverage of its first ever Winter Paralympics begins with live action from both the slopes and the ice rink as Alpine Skiing and Wheelchair Curling competitions begin.
The Alpine skiing gets off to an enthralling start with one of the blue riband events of the Games – the Downhill.
Kelly Gallagher and Jade Etherington fly the flag for Great Britain in the Women’s Visually Impaired category, as they follow their guides down the challenging Rosa Khutor course.
Plus, sit-skier Anna Turney, who broke her back while competing as a promising snowboarder seven years ago, competes in her second Paralympics.
Great Britain’s wheelchair curling team also begin their campaign with a difficult match against the reigning Paralympic champions, Canada.
09:00 – 11:30 |
BIATHLON & ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY Presenters: Jonathan Edwards & Ade Adepitan |
Jonathan Edwards and Ade Adepitan present live coverage of the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Six gold medals are set to be decided in the biathlon event at the Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex in Krasnaya Polyana, with the men’s and women’s sitting, standing and visually impaired categories all taking place.
Plus, the sledge hockey competition gets under way with the first two matches at the Shayba Arena.
Great Britain has no representation in this event, but all eyes will be on this highly exciting and frantic para-sport as 2010 bronze medallists Norway take on the Czech Republic, while Canada face Sweden.
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18:30 – 19:00 |
PARALYMPIC WINTER GAMES HIGHLIGHTS Presenters: Jonathan Edwards & Ade Adepitan |
Jonathan Edwards and Ade Adepitan take a look at the first day of the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, with 12 gold medals up for grabs.
Kelly Gallagher, Jade Etherington and Anna Turney were all in action for Great Britain in the Women’s Downhill Skiing events, while the GB Wheelchair Curling team began their campaign against the reigning Paralympic champions Canada.
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| 06:00-08:30 | ALPINE SKIING | LIVE Men’s/Women’s Downhill |
| 09:00-11:00 | ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY | LIVE Canada v Sweden |
| 12:30-14:30 | ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY | LIVE United States v Italy |
| 16:00-18:00 | ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY | LIVE Russia v South Korea |
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| 05:30-08:30 | W’CHAIR CURLING |
LIVE Great Britain v Canada |
| 11:30-14:30 | W’CHAIR CURLING |
LIVE Canada v Russia |
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In conjunction with Channel 4 and More4’s main TV coverage, winter para-sport fans can choose watch extra live coverage via the network’s dedicated Paralympics website – channel4.com/paralympics.
Channel 4’s ground-breaking coverage of the Games is the greatest ever commitment to the Winter Paralympics from a UK broadcaster and viewers can find more live action via its exclusive online offering.
Two further high definition channels of live streaming will be available via the Channel 4 Paralympics website, which will broadcast an additional 100 hours of uninterrupted live winter para-sport.
These two Paralympic Extra streams will be available as video on demand on computer, smartphone and tablet devices only.
Fast-turnaround highlights of medals and key moments will be available on the Channel 4 Paralympic website and YouTube, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
There will be live blogging throughout the Games on the Channel 4 website, sharing the latest new, photos, videos, comment and opinion.
For more information on the different classifications involved in each of the sports at the Winter Paralympic Games, visit the Channel 4 website dedicated to its ground-breaking and acclaimed LEXI decoder.
LEXI unlocks the complex world of classification in Paralympic sports and illustrates the different levels of impairment in each class by simply using four colours – green, yellow, orange and red.
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06:00 Women’s Downhill – Visually Impaired*
Kelly Gallagher / Jade Etherington
06:15 Women’s Downhill – Standing*
06:35 Women’s Downhill – Sitting*
Anna Turney
06:50 Men’s Downhill – Visually Impaired*
07:10 Men’s Downhill – Standing*
07:50 Men’s Downhill – Sitting*
LIVE: 6.00am-8.30am C4 Online Stream 1
06:00 Women’s 6km – Sitting*
06:25 Men’s 7.km – Sitting*
08:00 Women’s 6km – Standing*
08:15 Men’s 7.5km – Standing*
09:05 Women’s 6km – Visually Impaired*
09:44 Men’s 7.5km – Visually Impaired*
Czech Republic v NorwayPrelim Round – Group A Face-off: 5.30am Canada v Sweden
Prelim Round – Group A LIVE: 9.00am-11.00am C4 Online Stream 1 United States v Italy
Prelim Round – Group B LIVE: 12.30pm-2.30pm C4 Online Stream 1 Russia v South Korea
Prelim Round – Group B LIVE: 4.00pm-6.00pm C4 Online Stream 1
Canada v Great BritainRound Robin
Skip: Aileen Neilson
LIVE: 5.30am-8.30am C4 Online Stream 2United States v South Korea
Round Robin LIVE: 11.30am-2.30pm C4 Online Stream 2 CLICK HERE for full Wheelchair Curling match schedule All timings/channels listed above subject to change. *denotes event finals. .
