The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed at the 1994 Winter Paralympics held in Lillehammer, Norway. The team was known by it shortened name of Great Britain, for identification purposes. Twenty-three athletes, all of whom were men,. competed for Britain. The team won five medals at the Games, all bronze, and finished 21st in the medal table. Richard Burt won two medals in alpine skiing, as he had done in the 1992 Games. In addition to the medal performances the team had seven top ten finishes.
Medallists
The following British athletes won medals at the Games. In total five medals were won, all bronze, and the team finished 21st in the medal table. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medallists' names are in bold.
MedalNameSportEvent Alpine skiing Men's downhill LWXI Alpine skiing Men's giant slalom B3 Alpine skiing Men's super-G B3 Alpine skiing Men's super-G LWX Cross-country skiing Men's 5 km classical technique B1
Disability classification
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Events with "B" in the code are for athletes with visual impairment, codes LW1 to LW9 are for athletes who stand to compete and LW10 to LW12 are for athletes who compete sitting down. In biathlon events, which contain a target shooting component, blind and visually impaired athletes are able to compete through the use of acoustic signals, whose signal intensity varies dependent upon whether or not the athlete is on target.
Alpine skiing
Eight British athletes competed in alpine skiing events, a decrease from the eleven who had competed in the 1992 Games. Six of the athletes had previous Games experience. A total of four bronze medals were won by British skiers. Richard Burt medalled in both the giant slalom and super-G B3 classification, as he had done in 1992. Matthew Stockford, who won three bronze medals at the previous Games, took home a bronze in the super-G LXW and James Barker won bronze in the downhill LWXI.
AthleteEventTimeRankJames BarkerDownhill LWXI1:39.12Giant slalom LWXIDid not finishSlalom LWXI2:24.385Super-G LWXIDid not finishRichard BurtDownhill B3DisqualifiedGiant slalom B32:46.79Slalom B3Did not finishSuper-G B31:35.19Michael HammondDownhill LW21:31.2715Giant slalom LW2DisqualifiedSlalom LW2DisqualifiedSuper-G LW21:35.8424Brian HardingDownhill LWXDid not finishGiant slalom LWXDid not finishSlalom LWXDid not startSuper-G LWXDid not finishJonathan MorrisDownhill LW2Did not finishGiant slalom LW23:08.7218Slalom LW21:52.0210Super-G LW21:37.3225Graham NugentGiant slalom LW1/3DisqualifiedSlalom LW1/3Did not finishSuper-G LW1/32:14.387Matthew StockfordDownhill LWXDid not finishGiant slalom LWXDid not finishSlalom LWXDid not startSuper-G LWX1:48.18Edward SucklingGiant slalom LW1/34:38.245Slalom LW1/3Did not finishSuper-G LW1/33:07.198
Biathlon
Three British men competed in biathlon events, all of them had also represented the nation in the 1992 Winter Paralympics. All of Britain's biathletes raced in the B1 classification, for those with no functional vision and in the shooting component were assisted by acoustic signals to indicate when they were on target. None of the athletes won a medal, the highest placed finisher being Peter Young who came eleventh. Young and James Denton also competed in cross-country skiing events at the Games.
AthleteEventReal timeMissed shotsFactor (%)Finish timeRankMike Brace7.5 km B150:47.218040:43.813James Denton48:16.268039:12.10 12Peter Young41:34.998034:09.913
Cross-country skiing
Britain sent two biathletes to the Games, both of whom had also competed in the 1992 Games. James Denton and Peter Young both competed in the , and races in the B1 classification. Young won the bronze medal in the 5 km event. This was his second Paralympic bronze medal, he won his first in the 1984 Games in the 10 km event. Denton's best finish was fourteenth in the 10 km event.
AthleteEventReal timeFactor (%)Finish timeRankJames Denton5 km B121:24.98518:12.11610 km B144:24.08035:31.21420 km B11:23:58.6851:11:22.815Peter Young5 km B116:23.28513:55.710 km B134:38.58027:42.81120 km B11:03:45.78554:11.84
Factor percentage
To ensure a fair event when athletes with differing disabilities compete, times achieved are sometimes modified by a factor percentage, to produce a result known as "Finish Time". It is this time that decides the result of the races. Real times recorded are also listed.
Ice sledge hockey
Ice sledge hockey made its first appearance on the Paralympic schedule in Lillehammer. Great Britain sent a squad of 12 athletes to compete in the sport. Five teams competed in a group stage with the top two teams advancing to the gold medal match and third and fourth placed teams playing off for the bronze medal. The British team beat Estonia 2–0, drew 0–0 with both Canada and Norway and lost 7–0 to Sweden to finish fourth in the group. Facing Canada again for the bronze medal, Britain were defeated 2–0.
Squad listGroupBronze medal matchRankOppositionResultRankPhil Brownstein Andy Flockton Dave Hall Phillip Hall Stuart Harley William Henderson Paul Ireson John Lambert William Levick Anthony Neale Philip Saunders Neil WoodD 0–04L 0–24L 0–7D 0–0W 2–0
See also Great Britain at the Paralympics Great Britain at the 1994 Winter Olympics
References
External links International Paralympic Committee official website