Nina Sparks will become the first woman to represent ParalympicsGB in para snowboarding at the Winter Paralympics when she competes in Milano Cortina this March. The 35-year-old from High Wycombe, who has multiple sclerosis, will be the only female athlete in a five-strong British snowboarding squad heading to Italy.
Sparks, who earned her first World Cup podium finish with a bronze at the Steamboat World Cup just a month before the Games, said the selection news has not fully sunk in. “I’m just living on a cloud at the moment,” she said. “I was actually in the airport when I found out and I cried.”
She joins a tradition of history-makers in British para snowboarding, following James Barnes-Miller, the first para snowboarder, and Ollie Hall, the first medallist. “I’ve been training with these guys for the past four years so to join them in making history is cool,” Sparks added.
Sparks, who learned to snowboard aged 13 at Wycombe Summit dry slope, was diagnosed with MS in 2021 and competes in the SB-LL2 category for lower limb impairment. She aims to deliver a performance she is proud of on the big stage, with the added hope of a medal. “I want to show that I’ve been doing all this hard work for four years so I can put down this performance,” she said.
