Great Britain’s alpine skiers will be attempting to add to their already impressive medal haul once more as the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics reaches the halfway stage on Wednesday.
With the second half of the Super Combined event now moved to Friday following heavy fog and poor visibility on Tuesday, the women’s slalom has been brought forward to Wednesday and ParalympicsGB’s excellent form on the slopes could continue this morning in this event.
Competing for the first time in these Games in the visually impaired category is 15-year-old schoolgirl Millie Knight, who carried the flag at last week’s Opening Ceremony.
Whilst an outsider for the medals, it will be interesting to see how she fares against much more experienced opposition on her Paralympic debut, including her two esteemed GB team-mates.
The two strong medal hopes in the visually impaired category come in the form of Super-G gold medal winner Kelly Gallagher and double Sochi medalist Jade Etherington, who are both ranked in the world’s top five in the event.
The only other British interest on day five comes early in the morning in Wheelchair Curling as GB take on hosts Russia in the Ice Cube.
With only the top four progressing from the Round Robin, this is a crucial match for Great Britain as they and several teams battle for a place in the semi-finals.
ParalympicsGB’s curlers will need to be at their very best against the Russians, one of the most formidable sides in the sport.
Any mistakes are likely to be capitalised on by the ruthlessly efficient Russians, who currently lead the standings with five wins from six.
It’s a busy morning for the Cross Country skiers as the men’s and women’s 1km sprint takes place.
All eyes will be on the great Roman Petushkov, who is chasing his fourth gold medal of Sochi 2014 which would equal the Russian Winter Paralympic record set by Irek Zaripov in Vancouver four years ago.
Russia have dominated the cross-country events so far, although their stranglehold could be broken in the men’s visually impaired event by Brian McKeever.
The Canadian, who was close to making his country’s Winter Olympic team despite his impairment, is looking to defend his 2010 title and win his ninth Paralympic gold medal.
In the women’s event, the USA’s 10 summer Paralympic champion Tatyana McFadden is one of the athletes to watch in the women’s cross-country event, though she is not expected to contest for the medal places.
In Ice Sledge Hockey, South Korea, Italy, Sweden and the Czech Republic will be fighting it out among the “best of the rest” in the classification rounds.
For the first time on British television, para-sports fans will be able to enjoy rolling live coverage of a Winter Paralympic Games and Channel 4 will be providing the most comprehensive TV output of the event in its history, with more than 50 hours of live action over the ten days of competition.
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 5 of the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games below:
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DAY 5: WEDNESDAY 12th MARCH
06:00 – 08:00 |
ALPINE SKIING & WHEELCHAIR CURLING Presenters: Kelly Cates & Arthur Williams |
Great Britain has high hopes of a medal this morning up at Rosa Khutor in the Women’s Slalom event.
The event was due to take place on Friday but has been moved forward to today following the rescheduling of the second phase of the Super Combined.
Visually impaired skiers Kelly Gallagher, Jade Etherington and 15-year-old Millie Knight look set to thrive in this technical event.
The focus will also be on the Ice Cube, where Great Britain will be up against tough opponents, and the home crowd, when they face Russia in the Wheelchair Curling.
Angie Malone and Tom Killin were with the GB team that achieved silver in Turin 2006, and they aim to go one better this time.
Coverage switches to More4 for an hour at 8.00am while the The Morning Line airs over on Channel 4.
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08:00 – 09:00 |
ALPINE SKIING Presenters: Kelly Cates & Arthur Williams |
More4 takes over Winter Paralympics coverage for an hour featuring the second and final run of the Women’s Slalom.
Visually impaired skiers Kelly Gallagher, Jade Etherington and 15-year-old Millie Knight will hope to be in a strong position after their first run earlier this morning, with the aim of adding to GB’s haul so far of three medals.
In the sitting category, Britain’s Anna Turney, who finished sixth in Vancouver four years ago, will be hoping to make for her Sochi disappointments so far and get herself in the medals in the event this time around.
Coverage will return to Channel 4 after The Morning Line at 9.00am.
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09:00 – 11:00 |
CROSS COUNTRY Presenters: Jonathan Edwards & Ade Adepitan |
The Cross-Country Sprint finalstakes centre stage for one of the most compelling events of the Games – the Men and Women’s 1km Sprint.
The medalists in the sitting, standing and visually impaired categories will all be decided as athletes contest the semi-finals and finals stages.
Six gold medals will be claimed this morning in what promises to be one of the most keenly contested events of the Games, and American multi-medallist Bob Balk will be in the Channel 4 studio to cast his expert eye over proceedings.
Plus, there’s action from the final run of the Women’s Slalom events and a look back at Great Britain’s latest Wheelchair Curling match against Russia.
19:30 – 20:00 |
PARALYMPIC WINTER GAMES HIGHLIGHTS Presenters: Jonathan Edwards & Ade Adepitan |
Channel 4 looks back at the best of the action from day five at the Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi in its evening highlights programme.
British hopes were high for more medal success in the rearranged women’s slalom, while Great Britain’s wheelchair curlers were in action against the hosts, Russia.
Meanwhile, six golds were up for grabs in one of the most enthralling Cross-Country events of the Games – the 1km Sprint – plus there’s all the latest news, views and action from Sochi.
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| 05:00-06:00 | ALPINE SKIING | LIVE Women’s Slalom – Run 1 |
| 08:00-09:10 | ALPINE SKIING | LIVE Women’s Slalom – Run 2 |
| 12:00-14:00 | ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY | LIVE Italy v Sweden (5-8) |
| 16:00-18:00 | ICE SLEDGE HOCKEY | LIVE Czech Rep v South Korea (5-8) |
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| 05:30-08:30 | W’CHAIR CURLING |
LIVE Russia v Great Britain |
| 08:30-11:30 | CROSS COUNTRY |
LIVE Men’s / Women’s 1km Sprint |
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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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05:40 Women’s Slalom 1st Run – Sitting
08:30 Women’s Slalom 2nd Run – Sitting*
No live coverage 08:30 Men’s 1km Sprint Semi Finals – Sitting / Standing / Vis Impaired
08:40 Women’s 1km Sprint Semi Finals – Sitting / Standing / Vis Impaired
09:48 Men’s 1km Sprint Final – Sitting* / Standing* / Vis Impaired* 09:57 Women’s 1km Sprint Semi Final – Sitting* / Standing* / Vis Impaired* LIVE: 8.30am-11.30am C4 Online Stream 2
Classification Game – 5th to 8th Place LIVE: 4.00pm-6.00pm C4 Online Stream 1
Round Robin
Sweden v United States
Round Robin LIVE: 11.30am-2.20pm C4 Online Stream 2 CLICK HERE for full Wheelchair Curling match schedule All timings/channels listed above subject to change. *denotes event finals. .