Team GB: Gallagher wins Britain's first ever Paralympics gold

Kelly Gallagher became Britain's first gold medal winner since the Paralympics began in 1976.

10:24 10 March 2014

Britain's first ever Winter Paralympics games gold medal has been secured by partially-sighted ski sensation Kelly Gallagher.

The 28-year-old and her guide Charlotte Evans clocked a time of one minute and 28.72 seconds as the first skiers out on the Rosa Khutor course but no one else could match or beat them.

While the British team had forever had athletes in the Winter Paralympics, a gold medal had elluded them since the games began back in 1976.

Fellow Brits Jade Etherington (with guide Caroline Powell) won Bronze which was her second medal of the competition.

"It was nerve-wracking but I'm delighted with the result," said Gallagher in a quote picked up by Sky News.

"Normally when we compete, even in big events like World Championships, there is nobody interested in what we are doing, but here there has been a lot of hype and pressure, as well as expectation, and maybe we let some of that in, so today we just decided to ski and see what happens.

"I have to thank Charlotte for getting me to the line. We just threw ourselves at it. I prayed for the strength to ski and have fun."

Evans added: "I was yelling a lot and she wasn't doing what I told her, but finally it paid off. It didn't feel as good as we wanted to on the course, but who cares, we won a gold medal and it feels amazing."

Gallagher and Evans have been a duo since 2000 and a successful one at that: they won silver and bronze in the 2011 and 2013 World Championships.