Devastated didn’t even begin to describe how Owen Pick felt after his first Winter Paralympic Games event ended in disappointment.

The flagbearer for the opening ceremony, the British snowboarder has already had his fair share of memorable experiences in PyeongChang.

But the celebrations couldn’t transfer to the slopes after being knocked out of the snowboard cross’ first knockout stage by Carlos Javier Codina.

Yet the result wasn’t the most disappointing aspect for Pick, feeling his best race was left on the snow in the first of two events of his week.

“I was pretty gutted, my qualification runs showed the way I normally snowboard and I was feeling really good, my opponent qualified 12th and that’s normally an easy win for me,” said Pick, who lost his leg in combat in Afghanistan.

“But he got a quick start and got out in front but he was all over the place across the course – I was trying to make a safe pass but it’s just so difficult and I wasn’t willing to put myself on the line to try and do that.

“So I was doing that and then had a crush, overall it was a bad run.

“It’s difficult to pass, there’s not a lot of room and it’s bumpy and choppy, a tough course all throughout.

“I didn’t snowboard as well as I know I can in that last run, that’s the thing that most disappoints me.”

For Pick this is not the last bite at the Paralympic cherry with the banked slalom to follow on Thursday, with fellow snowboarders Ben Moore and James Barnes-Miller also in action.

The trio have made up ParalympicsGB’s first snowboard team but, with Pick and Moore banked slalom world medallists, the chance of a podium at their first Games is not beyond possibility.

Just getting down the slope was a task itself for the Cambridgeshire skier having been forced to wait for what seemed like an age due to a malfunctioning starting gate.

But the 26-year-old was adamant the disruption could not be used as an excuse for his head-to-head loss, having posted a strong qualification effort.

“It’s good that they ran it, you don’t come all the way here after four years to not race so I think it was the right decision,” he said, after a motorcross-esque bungee had to be used instead.

“We’re used to waiting around, we have it at every competition where something will go wrong so it is kind of normal.

“I’ve just got to put this one behind me, I wish I could change what’s gone on but I can’t so I need to relax and focus on the next couple of days and get back in the zone.”

Sainsbury’s is a proud long-term supporter of the British Paralympic Association and a champion of inclusive sport for all. For more information on Sainsbury’s commitment to inclusive sport visit http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/