Winter Paralympics: Menna Fitzpatrick and Millie Knight named among GB team

Menna Fitzpatrick (left) and Brett Wild and Millie Knight will be hoping to add to their medal haul in China

Defending Paralympic champion Menna Fitzpatrick and fellow Pyeongchang medallist Millie Knight have been named in a 20-strong Great Britain ski and snowboard team for the Beijing Games.

Knight, who won two silvers and a bronze, will again be guided by Brett Wild.

The Games will run from 4-13 March.

The 20 athletes, who will compete in alpine skiing, Nordic skiing and snowboard, join the five GB wheelchair curlers who were announced in January.

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It means the British team will be the largest at a winter Games since Lillehammer in 1994 when 23 athletes competed.

On the ski slopes, Fitzpatrick and Knight will be joined by fellow world medallists Neil Simpson, who is guided by his older brother Andrew, and sit-skier Shona Brownlee, who are both making their debuts.

Fellow sit-skiers Dan Sheen and Alex Slegg are also in the team while James Whitley, who competes in the standing events, will be taking part in his third Games.

"It's a huge honour to be selected to represent ParalympicsGB again, and I can't wait to get out there and get started," said Fitzpatrick, who won slalom gold at last month's World Championships in Norway.

Knight has recovered from a number of concussions, including a crash in February 2021 which left her struggling both physically and mentally, but her and Wild go to Beijing having won super combined gold in Norway.

"To become world champions for the first time in five years was an incredible feeling," she told BBC Sport.

"Our performances pre-Christmas weren't at the level we wanted and the standard of the sport and the level of the girls we are competing against has significantly improved, so getting selected is a relief and it feels amazing.

"Brett has been phenomenal and has stuck by me without fail and has shown so much trust and patience and motivates me to continue."

In the snowboard events, both James Barnes-Miller,a World Championship silver medallist last month, and Owen Pick will be competing at their second Games.

They will be joined by debutants Ollie Hill and Andy MacLeod.

And after Scott Meenagh became the became the first British athlete to compete for 20 years in Nordic skiing in Pyeonchang, this time he will be joined by fellow military veteran Steve Arnold and Callum Deboys in both the biathlon and cross-country events.

Cross-country skier Steve Thomas will be at his sixth Games having competed in sailing from 2004-2016 and Para ice hockey at Turin in 2006 while canoeist Hope Gordon is set to become Britain's first female Nordic athlete, also in cross-country.

"I'm delighted that we are taking one of our biggest ever Winter teams to a Games", said GB chef de mission Phil Smith.

"It promises to be one of our most competitive across a wider range of sports and events than ever before.

"We are looking forward to using Beijing to build on the success of the past two winter Games and further enhance our reputation as an emerging winter sport nation."

Teams

Alpine Skiing: Shona Brownlee, Menna Fitzpatrick (Guides: Katie Guest & Gary Smith), Millie Knight (Guide: Brett Wild), Dan Sheen, Neil Simpson (Guide: Andrew Simpson), Alex Slegg, James Whitley

Nordic Skiing: Steve Arnold, Callum Deboys, Hope Gordon, Scott Meenagh, Steve Thomas

Snowboard: James Barnes-Miller, Ollie Hill, Andy Macleod, Owen Pick

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