PARALYMPIC AND PARA SPORTS NEWS

Jon Santacana Maiztegui headlines Spain’s Sochi 2014 team
Spain will send four alpine skiers, two guides and three snowboarders to the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.
Spain: Nine facts on the Sochi 2014 Paralympics
The alpine skiing powerhouse will hope that Jon Santacana Maiztegui has recovered enough from an injury earlier in the season to make his mark in Sochi.

Groups set for women’s wheelchair basketball Worlds
The 12 teams participating in June’s event in Toronto have been divided into two pools.

Sochi 2014: 14 athletes to follow on Instagram
A guide to the top Paralympic accounts to follow on Instagram at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

Parties meet to discuss para-clay target shooting
Representatives of the IPC, ISSF and Italian Shotgun Shooting Federation met to discuss the potential for para-clay target shooting to become an IPC Shooting recognised discipline.

Canada preparing for Paralympic Schools Week
Between the end of the Olympics and start of the Paralympics, top Canadian athletes will visit and speak to schools across Canada.
Switzerland: Eight facts for Sochi 2014 Paralympics
The Swiss delegation typically fields their strongest Paralympic Winter Games teams in alpine skiing.

Netherlands name seven athletes for Sochi 2014 Paralympics
Four of the seven Dutch athletes headed to Sochi will compete in snowboard, a discipline set to make its Paralympic debut.

8 for 8: USA preview
The Americans enter the Sochi 2014 Paralympic ice sledge hockey competition as one of the teams favoured to make the podium.

Hug and Guilhermina to headline first IPC Athletics Grand Prix of 2014
A number of World and Paralympic champions including Brazil’s Terezinha Guilhermina and Switzerland’s Marcel Hug will be amongst the 490 athletes taking part in the first IPC Athletics Grand Prix of the season which starts on Saturday (22 February) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Norway’s Mariann Marthinsen on track for gold
Nordic skier Mariann Marthinsen is aiming to follow on from fellow national greats at Sochi 2014 by winning her first Paralympic gold at her fifth winter and summer Games, to continue her current stunning form in cross-country skiing.

Austria announce 13 athletes for Sochi 2014 Paralympics
The Austrians will be led by standing skiers Matthias Lanzinger and Markus Salcher, along with sit skier Claudia Loesch.

NBC announces Sochi 2014 Paralympics schedule
Find out when you can watch your favourite sports and American athletes on NBC and NBCSN from 7-16 March.

Sochi 2014 will be ‘shop window’ for wheelchair curling
British Curling are hoping the exposure from the Sochi 2014 Paralympics help further develop their programme.

NBC to feature ‘The Jessica Long Story’
An NBC Olympics production crew accompanied the American Paralympic champion to Russia to meet her birth family.

Italy: 10 facts on the Sochi 2014 Paralympics
With a strong contingent of alpine skiers headed to Sochi, can Italy add to their total of 61 medals at the Paralympic Winter Games?

Sochi 2014: 14 athletes to follow on Twitter
With the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games fast approaching, here’s a list of the top 14 athletes to follow on Twitter.

Sochi 2014 Paralympic Reporter project selects winners
The “Sochi 2014 Paralympic Reporter” international competition will bring 14 writers from Russia, Germany and Great Britain to Sochi for the Games.

Norway: 10 facts on the Sochi 2014 Paralympics
When it comes to the Paralympic Winter Games, Norway have arguably had the most success of any country.

Russia sending 67 athletes to Sochi 2014 Paralympics
The strongest medal hopefuls for the host nation lie in Nordic skiing and ice sledge hockey.