Winter Paralympics: Hope Gordon becomes ParalympicsGB's first female Para-nordic skier

Hope GordonReuters

Hope Gordon represented Great Britain in Para-canoe sprint at the 2021 World Championships in Denmark

Hope Gordon made history by becoming ParalympicsGB's first female Para-nordic skier at the Beijing Games on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old, who is also a Para-canoeist and Para-swimmer, only took up the event six months ago.

She finished 17th in qualifying in the women's sprint event, with the top 12 going through to the semi-finals.

"It is cool to be the first girl, but the main thing for me is as long as I'm not the last," Gordon told BBC Sport.

"It would be lovely to have more females involved in the sport. Hopefully this can be a platform for the females out there."

Elsewhere, there was disappointment for GB's wheelchair curlers, who cannot reach the semi-finals after defeats by Canada and South Korea.

David Melrose needed hospital treatment after injuring his shoulder in a fall during the 6-3 defeat by Canada, and without him GB lost 8-6 to South Korea to drop to ninth in the standings.

Melrose fell from his chair while reaching for a delivery stick, with Gary Smith replacing him on the ice for the remainder of the Canada match.

In a statement, ParalympicsGB confirmed Melrose was now back at the Athletes' Village after scans showed a rotator cuff injury.

Skip Hugh Nibloe's side face China and Latvia in their final group-stage matches on Thursday.

Gordon took 'quite a big fall' in warm-up

As for Gordon, she revealed she suffered a heavy fall in the warm-up which forced her to change her approach during the event.

"They changed the course slightly from what we have been practising on, mainly on a corner, which for me is quite a big deal because I'm so new to the sport and corners are quite technical," she said.

"I took quite a big fall in my warm-up which knocked my confidence and I hurt my hand a fair bit. So I was just happy to get physically around the course."

In the men's event, Callum Deboys finished 22nd while Steve Thomas, making his first appearance of the Games, finished 25th.

Thomas, a former Paralympic sailor and Para-ice hockey player, switched to nordic skiing in 2018 after reversing his decision to retire from competitive sport after the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.

"It felt amazing to be on the start line," he said. "It's been a pretty quick journey over the last three years. To go from novice to Paralympian in a different sport has been fantastic."

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