A former East Kent College student has been selected to represent Team GB at the Paralympics this year.

James Barnes-Miller has been chosen to be on the snowboarding team and will be heading to South Korea for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in March

James was born without his right hand and went to East Kent College in Broadstairs.

Last Friday, ParalympicsGB revealed the line-up for the ski and snowboard athletes.

This is the first time in its history that Great Britain will have representation in snowboard in the Paralympic Games after the sport made its debut in Sochi 2014.

James, 28, said: “It feels amazing.

“I’ve never felt held back because I was born without my right hand, and as my mum says the only thing it’s stopped me from doing is carrying two cups.

“It has made things harder for me of course but never held me back.

“To be selected you have to meet the criteria which they set, and luckily I did.

"It's amazing to see one of our college's alumni reaching the pinnacle of sporting achievement, and really characterises his tenacity and will to succeed" - Paul Manning

“I always loved skateboarding growing up and someone said I would love snowboarding.

“When I first started, snowboarding wasn’t in the Paralympics so there wasn’t anything like this to aim for.

“I do it because I love it and I love being in the mountains.

“This week I fly out to Canada for a month for training and when I get back we have the team launch.

“Then I have about a 10-day gap before we fly out to South Korea and have two weeks to acclimitise etc there.

“I live near Stockport now as unfortunately there is no where near Thanet I can train, but all my family still live there and I am there all the time.”

James is one of two selected in the classification for athletes with upper-limb impairments.

He has been ranked fourth in the world in Snowboard cross following championships in Tahoe and Canada and won two world cup silver medals last year.

Paul Manning, principal of East Kent College’s Broadstairs Campus, said: “We’re so proud of James for being selected as one of Team GB’s winter Paralympics squad.

“It’s amazing to see one of our college’s alumni reaching the pinnacle of sporting achievement, and really characterises his tenacity and will to succeed.

“The college has been sponsoring him on his journey to help with his training and equipment costs, and there’s no doubt we’ll all be cheering him on when he competes at Pyeong Chang.”

The PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games take place from Friday, March 9 until Sunday, March 18.