James Barnes-Miller fears he blew his one and only shot at a Winter Paralympic medal after slipping to a fifth-place finish at Beijing 2022.
The British snowboarding star, who competes in the SB-UL class for athletes with upper limb impairments, was undone by Chinese domination in his favoured snowboard cross event as the home favourites grabbed all three spots on the podium.
Barnes-Miller won his small final at Genting Snow Park but the big hitters in Zhangjiakou – who beat him in the semi-finals after capitalising on his fall – were a cut above, duelling it out in the main event as Ji Lijia reigned supreme.
The 32-year-old, who finished seventh at PyeongChang 2018, had come to the Games with genuine medal aspirations and admits it’s back to the drawing board after failing to fire.
“I feel like that was my chance to get a medal,” he admitted. “But hey-ho.
“I felt I was riding well after not riding great yesterday, but today I was riding really well and then getting taken out is just gutting.
“I’ll have a day off tomorrow, relax, take my mind off it and just get focused in again.”
Barnes-Miller came to the Winter Paralympics off the back of a brilliant World Championships in Lillehammer, where he claimed three medals in the snowboard cross, banked slalom and team events.
He also won the Crystal Globe in 2020 as the best performer of the season but was unable to convert that form onto the big Paralympic stage.
The Brit now turns his attention to the banked slalom event on Saturday, where he finished tenth in PyeongChang and admits he sometimes struggles for pace.
But Barnes-Miller knows grit and resilience are part and parcel of being a snowboarder and hopes digging deep when it matters can help him recover.
“It does take a lot, especially when you have a big fall or injury, to get back up and go again,” added Barnes-Miller, one of over 1,000 athletes able to train full-time, access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support thanks to vital National Lottery funding.
“You have to have something about you. Getting knocked down and having to get back up when you get knocked down properly takes a bit.”
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