It’s been quite a week for Lincoln’s Jade Etherington in Sochi. The 23 year old, competing at her first Winter Paralympics has skied her way to four, yes, four medals.
She won her fourth medal with her guide Caroline Powell in the Super Combined, claiming silver, adding to her two silvers and one bronze from the downhill and slalom and Super G, respectively.
Jade suffers from Axenfeld syndrome, a hereditary condition from her mother. At age of 17, she started to lose her sight and is now 95% blind. She describes her sight as: “very blurry with little focus.”
In-spite of this, Jade has risen to be one of Britain’s top athletes, and her achievements during these Winter games have installed her as one of Britain’s greatest Paralympians.
Jade won a total of four medals, but none of the colour gold, which she is desperate for. Speaking to the BBC, she said: “It hurt my legs putting everything into it because we didn’t want to settle for silver.”
Jade was unable to make it five out of five, after pulling out of Sunday’s Giant Slalom. However, her performance at the Sochi Paralympics have been fantastic to watch and it makes it even more sweeter that she is a Lincolnite.
In recognition of her achievements, Jade was awarded the honour of carrying the Team GB flag at the closing ceremony of the games.