The Seminar is held a year before each summer and winter Games and is a crucial staging post in our preparations. It’s a chance to hear from the Organising Committee and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on how the Games plans are progressing and a fabulous opportunity to see venues and systems in action. From our visit, it was clear that the Organising Committee are in a good place especially with regards to the competition venues.

The one thing Rio showed us last summer was that they underestimated the public’s enthusiasm for the Games. Once tickets were marketed and promoted the competition venues were flooded with enthusiastic fans. Pyeongchang need to ensure they too do enough to bring the crowds to the Games so that South Korea truly benefits from hosting, what will undoubtedly be, a thrilling Winter Games.

The venues in Pyeongchang are currently hosting a series of test events. It’s really exciting to see the venues in action and more so to see British athletes competing in them ahead of the Games next year. Each of the sports vying for Pyeongchang qualification will have representation at the test events and this will not only be a great marker in performance terms but a huge part of planning the finer detail of what needs to be put in place over the next 12 months.

As the excitement builds towards the next winter Paralympic Games, it seems, in some ways, impossible that Sochi was three years ago – the memories of success on snow and ice are still so fresh in my mind as is the sound of the national anthem being played for the first ever Games gold medal on snow for a British athlete which was won by Kelly Gallagher and her guide Charlotte Evans.

Sochi will always hold a special place in my heart - it was my first Games as Chef de Mission and an event where – coming off a home Games - the pressure was on for our Winter team to perform. And how it performed. The team excelled, winning one gold, four silver and a bronze medal.

ParalympicsGB finished 10th on the medal table ahead of far more traditional winter sport nations such as Switzerland and Sweden. The team demonstrated what it possible with talent, pride and determination and they certainly made their competitors sit up and take notice as well as making the nation proud.

But we aren’t focussing on past success rather more we are firmly fixed on what needs to be done in the next 12 months to ensure we are a best prepared team in Pyeongchang. Every Games has its challenges and as we hit the year to go milestone, Pyeongchang is no different. Para Alpine and Para snowboard have received significant funding from the National Lottery this cycle and will be looking to demonstrate the positive impact this has had on the support programmes and athlete preparation.

Across the board the support teams of all the athletes are working hard (with the athletes themselves) to put the right preparation and plans are in place to support delivery when it matters most – when the pressure is on and when the spotlight shines on the ParalympicsGB team out in Pyeongchang.

In the post Sochi period we are developing a reputation as a nation to watch out for in Para Alpine skiing, Para snowboard and wheelchair curling. It’s even possible that there may be British representation in Para Nordic skiing, which if it happens will be the first time ParalympicsGB has competed in this event since 1998. How exciting and motivating is that.

We are conscious as a team, however, that the nation expects medals from ParalympicsGB at both Summer and Winter Games and we will be doing all that we can to support the ambitions of our winter athletes. As the organisation responsible for the team, we want to make the country proud and win medals too but in a winter sport context we are very aware that the margins for success can be even smaller than they are in summer sport.

The difference between a gold medal and crashing out in skiing or snowboard comes down to tiny judgement calls by athletes racing right on the edge, while the margins in wheelchair curling are incredibly fine too. We are talking decision making under pressure where millimetres can be the difference between success and failure - which was exactly the situation that saw ParalympicsGB lose out on a gold medal back in Turin 2006 with the last stone of the very last end in a titanic battle against Canada.

With public awareness of the ParalympicsGB team at an all-time high and a recent history of success at the Games, we are conscious of doing everything we can at the BPA to support our athletes being prepared to deliver in Pyeongchang and at this stage in the cycle we believe we are in good shape. We have spent some quality time with our sports and have already undertaken a number of recces and planning exercises to ensure we have a strong understanding of how we can operate in Pyeongchang and create the optimal environment to support delivery on the field of play.

Our athletes are in good form too. In wheelchair curling, the team is competing now at their World Championships in Pyeongchang and will be looking to learn lessons and come away confident of the steps needed to be successful in 2018. The Para Alpine and snowboard squads have also had World Championships and World Cup races and have recorded some impressive medal winning performances this season.

In the VI category of Alpine skiing, we are now in the enviable position of Millie Knight (with guide Brett Wild) winning four medals at the recent World Championships in Tarvisio including gold in the Downhill. Menna Fitzpatrick (with guide Jen Kehoe) won bronze in the super combined while we still have Kelly Gallagher (and guide Gary Smith) to return to the fold after a recent injury. All three athletes and their guides have been on outstanding form over the last cycle so we have reason to feel excited for their performances in a year’s time.

The men’s squad have also been in good form with Sochi Paralympian James Whitley backing up a fifth place World Cup finish with seventh in the Slalom at the World Championships and the emergence of Chris Lloyd on the world stage.

The Para snowboard squad have also made an incredible break through with Owen Pick winning World Championship silver in the banked slalom SB-LL2 classification whilst Ben Moore won bronze in the SB-UL class. James Barnes-Miller has also made a name for himself with two World Cup silver medals in the SB-UL snowboard cross and a fourth place at the World Championships. 

All in all, as Chef de Mission of ParalympicsGB, I have plenty to look forward to over the coming year. I am really excited by the prospect of representation in up to four sports and within those sports we will have a number of good medal hopes. We will be taking a strong team to Pyeongchang; a team which is professional and well-prepared and we are committed, as we always are, to putting plans and systems in place that will support athletes and sports to thrive in the Games environment. 

Pyeongchang presents a huge opportunity for our talented Winter sport athletes to shine and in turn for ParalympicsGB to reinforce its position as a developing winter sport nation. 

The next 365 days are crucial and I know that we, our sports and athletes will be sweating every last millisecond and millimetre out of our plans so we can make the nation proud again.