
Within the next year, many of the winter para-sport events will also serve as qualifiers for Sochi 2014 and will give Paralympic sports fans a chance to get to know the athletes and their stories prior to the Games.
Alpine skiing/snowboard
2013 Europa Cup: With five events on the schedule, this season’s Europa Cup will begin in Italy and travel to Canada, France, USA and Japan, and it will feature the snowboard discipline for the first time. Top performers in this event last year included Austria’s Markus Salcher and Russia’s Alexandra Frantseva.
2013 World Championships: From 20-27 February, the world’s top skiers will take to the slopes in La Molina, Spain for the biggest event prior to the Sochi 2014 Games. Slovakia’s Jakub Krako and Germany’s Anna Schaffelhuber will be ones to keep your eyes on both in La Molina and in Sochi the following year.
2013 World Cup: The two stages of the World Cup event will be held in St. Moritz, Switzerland from 13-16 January and Sochi, Russia from 7-12 March, with the latter acting as the Sochi 2014 test event at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre. The snowboard discipline test event will actually be held separately a few days prior, from 4-6 March.
To view race schedule leading up to Paralympics click: IPC SBX Race Schedule 2012-13