• Winter Paralympics

Etherington to 'go for broke' in pursuit of gold

Jade Etherington completed a hat-trick of Sochi medals in Wednesday's slalom © Getty Images

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Jade Etherington has said she will "go for broke" in her pursuit of Winter Paralympics gold in the Super Combined on Friday.

The visually impaired skier and her guide, Caroline Powell, have won three medals at Sochi so far - two silver and a bronze.

And they are guaranteed another medal if they complete Friday's event but 23-year-old Etherington is eyeing the top prize.

Wheelchair Curling permutations

British skip Aileen Neilson and her team are closing in on a semi-final berth © Getty Images

• If Britain beat China they are guaranteed a place in the semi-finals
• If they lose to China and Russia, who are already through, but beat Slovakia, they will move into the last four
• If China and Slovakia both win, it would set up a tie-breaker series on Friday

"We were disappointed not to win [the slalom event on Wednesday] but it was a proper race and we are proud to have the British flag raised once again," she told BBC Sport.

"It makes me realise how much a gold means."

With two rival pairs disqualified on Tuesday and gold medal-winning team-mate Kelly Gallagher crashing out, only three pairs will contest for medals when the event concludes on Friday.

Etherington is currently 3.12 seconds behind Aleksandra Frantceva, the Russian who beat her to gold on Wednesday.

"It is a lot of time to make up, but we're going to go for broke," Etherington said.

"Even if we did one of the best runs we could and we still got silver I would be happy because we'd have pushed it and tried - we'll fight until the end."

Powell, 19, added: "We don't want to go in just to get a medal because we can, we want to go and get the best possible result we can."

Only those who complete the race will receive medals, meaning if all three pairs fell or were disqualified then no-one would finish on the podium.

Meanwhile, Great Britain's wheelchair curling team are poised for a semi-final spot having beaten the USA 8-7 after an astonishing late comeback.

Trailing 6-2 with two ends remaining, Team GB shifted through the gears to score five in the penultimate end to lead for the first time. The Americans tied the match to force an extra end but GB held on to win.

Coach Tony Zummack's team now face China in their final round-robin game later on Wednesday.

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