Aussies may surprise at Winter Paralympics
  Story By Warren Barnsley     

Saturday, 9 September 2017: Six months out from the Winter Paralympics in South Korea, Australia are hopeful of sending a 15-strong team.

Talent abounds Australia's Winter Paralympic hopefuls but they won't be expected to arrest the country's long wait for another gold medal.

Sunday marks six months until the Pyeongchang Games and the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) is hopeful of taking a 15-strong team to South Korea.

There are a number of unknowns for the team after the loss of their only two bronze medal winners at Sochi in 2014, when Australia finished 19th.

Jessica Gallagher has shifted her focus to the Summer Paralympics in cycling, while fellow alpine skier Toby Kane has retired.

Alpine skiing world champion Mitchell Gourley is Australia's best chance for a gold medal, while para-snowboarder Ben Tudhope is among the podium contenders after making his Games debut as a 14-year-old in Sochi.

An Australian has not stood atop the dais since 2002 when the country finished eighth with six gold medals thanks largely to skier Michael Milton's four gold-haul.

Chef de mission Nick Dean is tempering his expectations, with the European winter season ahead of the Games in March.

"It's an unknown with respect to the actual outcome but it's a great group of young athletes. They could surprise as these games," Dean told AAP.

"It comes down to performance on the day. We have a number of athletes who can win a medal but everything's got to go right.

"I'm not going to make any predictions."

The team could benefit from the partial ban over Russian athletes for doping after the country dominated their home Games four years ago with 30 gold.

But competition has been fierce since the 2002 Games when the Paralympics reduced 15 different ability classifications into three -- sitting, standing and vision-impaired.

Dean said a lack of athlete funding was a challenge as the standard of competition rises.

"The chances of medals have diminished. It makes it a more exciting competition to watch and makes it more elite," he said.

"The bar goes up every year.

'There's never enough funding. But the APC and member bodies provide fabulous support within their limitations.

"The athletes will have every opportunity to compete at their very best."






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