Austrian Paralympic Alpine Skier Matthias Lanzinger competes during the downhill race of the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in 2014; ©Getty Images

Dates for the 2017-2018 World Cup season have been announced for Alpine and Nordic skiing and snowboarding as Para-athletes enter the final stages of preparation for Pyeongchang 2018.

The Para Alpine skiing season includes seven stages, starting in St Moritz, Switzerland, on December 11.

Kimberly in Canada will stage the World Cup Finals from February 8 to 11.

The Nordic skiing race calendar will involve three World Cups events, with the first one taking place in Canmore, Canada, from December 9 to 17.

Proceedings will then move to Oberried, Germany, between January 20 and 28 before Finnish resort Vuokatti hosts the World Cup Finals from February 2 to 10.

The snowboard World Cup season will get underway in Treble Cone, New Zealand, on September 2.

“The upcoming season is a very important one, with the Winter Paralympics being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea," said Dimitrije Lazarovski, head of World Para Snow Sports.

Nordic Skier Yoshihiro Nitta of Japan now knows the dates of his forthcoming World Cup competition leading up to Pyeongchang 2018 ©Getty Images
Nordic Skier Yoshihiro Nitta of Japan now knows the dates of his forthcoming World Cup competition leading up to Pyeongchang 2018 ©Getty Images

“All winter Para athletes have trained very hard for the past three seasons to reach the Winter Paralympics in their best possible form and deliver outstanding performances once again on the biggest stage of all.

“For that reason, we wanted to create the most diverse and competitive World Cup calendars possible, in order to give more athletes from around the globe further opportunities to compete in the highest level.”

The Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games are due to take place from March 9 to 18.

For full details of the calendars, click here.