Jade sets silver standard with GB’s first medal
JADE Etherington and guide Caroline Powell won Britain’s first Paralympic medal on snow in 20 years when they stormed to a sensational silver in the visually impaired downhill in Sochi.
The pair, who a year ago had never even met, were making only their third competitive run together.
It got Britain’s Winter Paralympics off to a flying start and ensured that, less than an hour into day one, they had already exceeded their medal haul from four years ago in Vancouver.
Etherington, who crashed as she crossed the line, said: ‘I was so happy I’d finished and then couldn’t stop I was going so fast.’
The 22-year-old from Lincoln met Powell last April and they did not compete together until January. The duo did not even get a training run on Friday because the session was cancelled, but Etherington said: ‘I was actually happy there was no training run, because I feel if you’re going to be scared for your life you might as well get a result at the end of it.’
Etherington finished the course in 1min 34.28sec — 2.73sec behind Slovakian winner Henrieta Farkasova, and earned a tweet of congratulations from Prime Minister David Cameron. Powell, 19, admitted that she had been surprised by how quickly the partnership has blossomed.
She said: ‘You have to build a friendship and that can take years.
‘In our case, we had to build it within a short space of time, but we were really honest with each other from the beginning. She taught me so much about guiding, I just went with what she said and it’s worked.
‘It’s come together now and we’re so happy with the result.’