Kelly Gallagher has vowed to bounce back from a disappointing opening to her second Winter Paralympics, insisting the success of her British alpine skiing teammates can spur her to glory.
The 28-year-old University of Bath graduate, who finished fourth in the giant slalom and sixth in the slalom on Winter Paralympic debut in 2010, clocked 1:37.36 minutes in the visually impaired downhill but that was only good enough for sixth.
The other British skier in the field Jade Etherington, guided by Caroline Powell, however went 3.08 seconds quicker to claim an historic silver medal in Rosa Khutor.
And with that result, Etherington became the first British female to win a Paralympic skiing medal in what is her debut appearance at the Games in Russia.
But, despite not being among the medals on the opening day, Gallagher, who is guided by Charlotte Evans, is confident they possess the character and form to get on the podium.
"That is ski racing I guess, It happens a lot in training when you come down and think it's a good run and the time isn't good," said Gallagher.
"We improved on our training run definitely but it just wasn't enough. We are really buzzing for our team-mates Jade and Caroline to get the first medal of the Games and the first for our winter sport so that's exciting for them.
"We didn't have such a great day but we have got four more chances in our races and it is really cool to be out here in such a big Paralympic venue with our families here.
"Every girl is coming out and giving it everything and throwing everything at it and they obviously threw more at it than we did.
"We can't really spend so much time thinking about what went wrong. We've got it in the bag; we know what we're doing. We're good skiers so we need to get out there and see what we can do in the next few days."
Gallagher and Evans will look for an immediate response in the women's Super-G on Monday – the same event in which they won silver at 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships.
And, while she is just at the start of her Sochi 2014 experience, Gallagher admits she feels right at home on the Russian slopes with four events left to come.
"This is our work. We come to work every day and do the best that we can, some days it works out, some days it does not," she added.
"It's really chilled out at the start. The people we are racing against, we know them really well, we race with them every day, we train with them and it's relaxed.
"At the welcome ceremony we were told to make this our home and it definitely feels like it."
*Sainsbury's is a proud long-term supporter of the British Paralympic Association and a champion of inclusive sport for all. For more information on Sainsbury's commitment to inclusive sport visit: www.Sainsburys.co.uk/activekids
