British Paralympic chief targets two medals at Winter Games

BRITISH Paralympic Association chief executive Phil Lane admits he is targeting two medals at the upcoming Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

DOUBLING UP: British Paralympic Association chief executive Phil Lane is targeting two medals from the upcoming Palalympic Winter Games in Vancouver (Getty Images)

A 12-strong British squad is set to compete in the Games which start on March 12, short of the sledge hockey team that competed in Turin but with four more alpine skiers than four years ago.

Sit-skier Sean Rose is one of the veterans from Turin and having scooped two medals on the World Cup circuit this season, is expected to improve on his sixth-place best finish in the men's downhill.

And Lane insisted Rose and the curling team of skip Michael MCreadie, Tom Killin, Angie Malone, Eileen Neilson and Jim Sellar, who struck Great Britain's only medal with silver in Turin, will be contenders in Vancouver.

"We've got seven athletes going out for the alpine events and Sean Rose in particular deserves a special mention," said Lane, who is Chef de Mission of the British Paralympic squad in Vancouver.

"He's ranked in the top five in the world and recently won a gold medal at a World Cup in Europe and silver at a World Cup in North America.

"So there's a great possibility of Sean coming back with the goods.

"And the curling team won a silver medal in Turin and we hope they can be in the medal zone too."

While the Winter Paralympics may not attract the same crowds and media coverage as the able-bodied event, the competition will be no less thrilling, with alpine skiers competing on the same courses as in the Winter Olympics.

And Lane admits the action at the ice sledge hockey rink, a sport added to the schedule at the Lillehammer Paralympic Games in 1994, will be one to look out for with Canada and USA's rivalry set to continue over from the Winter Olympics last month.

"We're not competing in sledge hockey this year but hopefully we will in Sochi - it's an exciting, vigorous game," said Lane.

"There is a huge rivalry between Canada and USA which I'm sure will spill over to the ice in magnificent style and give everybody a great spectacle to watch.

"So I'm looking forward to that as well as watching our own guys hopefully do the business for Great Britain.

"It gives me a great buzz to watch our athletes out there striving to do their best and this will be no exception.

 "The alpine will also be exciting in Vancouver. It's a remarkable range of people doing some pretty crazy things down a mountainside at 60 to 70 mph. So you have to be brave and very talented and skilful too."