Para Snowsport Performance
What is Para Snowsports?
Para Snowsport is the competitive end of adaptive snowsport. It has strict eligibility criteria and is limited to physical and visual impairments (see below). Competition in Para Snowsport takes the format of racing with the pinnacle being the Winter Paralympics. Each discipline has a variety of different race formats:
Para Nordic
Cross Country Skiing, which ranges from 2.5km to 20km in classical and freestyle techniques and Biathlon, which combines shooting 5 targets from 10m between skiing laps.
Para Snowboard
Races take the format of Banked Slalom, Dual Banked Slalom, Boardercross and Slalom.
Para Alpine Skiing
Races take the format of Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom.
The Performance Pathway
Snowsport Scotland/GB Snowsport employ three para snowsports coaches to support athletes on the performance pathways.
They support para athletes to progress through the pathway and into the GB Snowsports teams.
Fern Cates is the Para Nordic coach, Alastair Nasmyth is the Para Snowboard coach and Blake Williams is the Para Alpine coach. They work with athletes to provide training opportunities and access to competitions at home and abroad to prepare them for international competition and selection to the GB Snowsport Teams.
GB Snowsport (GBS) is the national governing body for snowsports in the UK, managing elite British teams and the development pathway for those athletes.
They select, manage and lead British teams to world class events and provide opportunities for our athletes to achieve their full potential as individuals and as a team.
Eligibility
In order to safeguard the integrity of fair competition, all Para sports have a system in place which aims to ensure that winning is determined by sporting factors such as skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus, the same factors that account for success in sport for able bodied athletes.
This system is called classification.
Through classification, it is determined which athletes are eligible to compete in a sport and how those athletes are then grouped together for competition, in order to minimise the impact of those athletes’ impairments on sport performance. The rules on classification are dictated by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
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All athletes in Para Nordic must have one or more of the following impairments and meet the minimum impairment criteria for the sport:
• Impaired Muscle Power
• Limb Deficiency
• Leg Length Difference
• Hypertonia
• Ataxia
• Athetosis
• Impaired Passive Range of Movement
• Vision Impairment
SPORT CLASSES IN PARA NORDIC
Athletes in Para Nordic are grouped into the following sport classes. The detailed sport class profiles are set out in classification rules.
SPORT CLASSES LW 2-9: STANDING SKIERS
Lower limb impairments:
Sport Class LW 2: Athletes have an impairment in one leg.
Sport Class LW 3: Athletes have an impairment in both legs.
Sport Class LW 4: Athletes have an impairment in one leg.
Upper limb impairments:
Sport Class LW 5/7: Athletes have an impairment in both arms and compete without ski poles.
Sport Class LW 6: Athletes have an impairment in one arm and compete with one ski pole.
Sport Class LW 8: Athletes have an impairment in one arm and compete with one ski pole.
Combined upper and lower limb impairments:
Sport Class LW 9: Skiers in this Sport Class have an impairment that affects arms and legs. Depending on the nature and degree of their activity limitation they compete with or two skis and one or two poles.
SPORT CLASSES LW 10-12: SIT-SKIERS
Sport Classes LW 10-12: All sit-skiers have an impairment affecting their legs and compete in a seated position.
SPORT CLASSES B1-3: SKIERS WITH VISION IMPAIRMENT
Sport Classes B 1-3: Athletes in these sport classes have vision impairment. Athletes with vision impairment ski with a guide, who verbally gives directions to the athlete.
For more information please visit the FIS Website
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All athletes in Para Snowboard must have one or more of the following impairments and meet the minimum impairment criteria for the sport :
• Impaired Muscle Power
• Limb Deficiency
• Leg Length Difference
• Hypertonia
• Ataxia
• Athetosis
• Impaired Passive Range of Movement
SPORT CLASSES IN PARA SNOWBOARD
Athletes in Para Snowboard are grouped into the following sport classes.
Sport Class SB-LL1 & SB-LL2: Athletes have an impairment in one or both legs.
Sport Class SB-UL: Athletes have an impairment in one or both arms.
For more information please visit the FIS Website
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All athletes in Para Alpine must have one or more of the following impairments and meet the minimum impairment criteria for the sport:
• Impaired Muscle Power
• Limb Deficiency
• Leg Length Difference
• Hypertonia
• Ataxia
• Athetosis
• Impaired Passive Range of Movement
• Vision Impairment
SPORT CLASSES IN PARA ALPINE SKIING
Sport Class LW 1-4: Athletes have an impairment in one or both legs.
Sport Class LW 5/6/7/8: Athletes have an impairment in one or both arms and compete with one or no ski poles.
Sport Class LW 9: Skiers in this Sport Class have an impairment that affects arms and legs.
Sport Classes LW 10-12: All sit-skiers have an impairment affecting their legs and compete in a seated position.
Sport Classes B 1-3: Have vision impairment and meet the minimum impairment criteria to compete. Athletes ski with a guide, who verbally gives directions to the athlete.
For more information please visit the FIS Website
Supported Scottish Athletes
Neil Simpson (GBS Para Alpine World Class Program)
Andrew Simpson (GBS Para Alpine World Class Program Guide)
Michael Kear (GBS Para Alpine World Class Program)
Shona Brownlee (GBS Para Alpine World Class Program)
Adam Hall (GBS Para Alpine World Class Program Guide)
Katie Guest (GBS Para Alpine World Class Program Guide)
Jamie Thompson (GBS/Snowsport Scotland Para Alpine Development Team)
Dom Allen (GBS/Snowsport Scotland Para Alpine Development Team)
Alistair Hall (GBS/Snowsport Scotland Para Alpine Development Team Guide)
James Hannan (GBS/Snowsport Scotland Para Alpine Development Team Guide)
Para Snowsports Athlete Support
Athletes that have potential can expect support with training and competitions. Para Snowsport athletes are evaluated on an individual basis based on a number of factors that differ between the disciplines. These include (but are not exclusive to): availability to train, commitment, competition category and performance trajectory. Unfortunately we can only offer this support to athletes that fulfil the classification criteria above.
If you would like to find out what support is available please contact the coaches directly:
Para-Alpine Pathway Manager & Head Coach – Blake Williams
blake@snowsportscotland.org
Cross Country & Para Nordic Programme Manager and Peformance Coach – Fern Cates
fern@snowsportscotland.org
Snowboard & Para-Snowboard Lead - Alastair Nasmyth
alastair@snowsportscotland.org
