If Alana Nichols wins gold at the Paralympic Games in Rio, she will be the first female U.S. athlete -- Paralympic or Olympic -- to do so in three different sports. Not that shes feeling the pressure. Well, maybe a little.Thats what its about at the end of the day, is winning a medal, she says. Theres no way around it. So, yeah, of course Im feeling that pressure. I also have a pretty substantial track record that people are expecting me to medal.Substantial might be an understatement. Nichols, 33, has already earned three gold medals -- one in wheelchair basketball at the 2008 Beijing Games and two in alpine skiing at the 2010 Vancouver Games -- making her the first female U.S. Paralympian to win in both summer and winter sports. She also earned a bronze and a silver in Vancouver. In 2014, despite a scary crash during the womens super-G sitting event, Nichols came home with a silver medal in downhill. (In London in 2012, Nichols just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish with the U.S. wheelchair basketball team.)The Rio Paralympics open on Wednesday, and in Nichols fifth Games she will hit the water as one of two members of the USAs inaugural paracanoe team. Its the first year that 200-meter sprint kayaking has been held in the Paralympics, and the races, across flat water, begin a week after the Games begin on Wednesday, September 14.This has been the biggest challenge for me as an athlete. I was part of two very skill-oriented sports. With sprint kayak, its just been about how well I can condition my body, she says.In the lead-up to Rio, Nichols adhered to an intense training schedule both in and out of the water. Most days, she was in the San Diego Bay (her home base since last year) from 6 to 8 a.m., practicing sprints of several hundred meters, and then back in again for an afternoon/evening session.On land, she focused primarily on strengthening her core and lats to allow for the explosive work required of a race that will likely last just under a minute. Exercises like angled lat pull-downs, using an 8-pound balancing ball for rotational work, have become a regular part of her gym routine.Nichols works remotely with trainer Michele Eray, a former Olympic canoer from South Africa. Eray, who also trains U.S. sprint canoer Maggie Hogan, says monitoring Nichols heart rate has become crucial for improving her aerobic power and endurance.Eray uses Motionize, a device with two sensors -- one on Nichols kayak and one on her paddle -- to track things such as the length and distance of her stroke, strokes per minute and strokes per session. The information syncs up to an app on Nichols phone, which then can be forwarded to Eray to better design training sessions.[Alana] knows what she needs to do to get the most out of herself. The challenge [is] that she is pretty new to a sport that is highly technical. It usually takes about seven to 10 years to fully develop a medal-potential canoe sprinter, and she has been in the game for 1.5 years, Eray says.Nichols also incorporates CrossFit workouts once or twice a week at local gym at Alpine Ranch CrossFit, with a coach who is also an adaptive athlete. And she cross-trains at least once a week by surfing, a sport that has been her passion since 2014.I say it keeps me sane because sprint kayaking is such a focus endurance sport, that when I go surf, I get to purely have fun. Its like a revitalization, she says.Even in a new sport, everything feels very familiar to the veteran Paralympian -- down to the last-minute prerace jitters.If youre not nervous, if you dont feel like you wanna throw up, then somethings wrong. But its about being comfortable with those feelings. I had a friend tell me the other day, Its about making those butterflies fly in formation, she laughs.In Rio, Nichols will compete under a KL2 classification, which will pit her against athletes with partial leg or trunk function (e.g. single-leg amputees). Nichols, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a snowboarding accident in 2000, feels this may put her at a disadvantage, but is determined not to worry about it.Theres nothing to keep me from having my best 200-meter race at Rio, and thats what Im going to do. The podium will shake out how it will. Medaling is just the cherry on top, she says.Shes said all along that Rio will be her last Paralympic Games -- until the recent announcement that surfing will be an official Olympic sport in 2020. The Paralympic Games may follow suit in 2024, and if thats the case, Nichols may aim for one more Games.If 2024 includes surfing, I would love to compete, she says.But, first things first -- she has another chance to make history next week in Rio. Nathan Eovaldi Jersey .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Carlton Fisk Jersey . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. http://www.cheapredsoxjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-carson-smith-jersey . 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Andrew Birchs five-wicket haul helped Warriors close in on Titans top position in the table with a six-wicket win in Centurion. After Titans were restricted to 147, the Warriors chase was steered by half-centuries from Colin Ingram and Colin Ackermann.Put in to bat, Aiden Markram (23) and Heinrich Klaasen (26) got starts, but Titans lost wickets regularly once Birch broke the opening stand in the third over. Sisanda Magala and the rest of the attack reduced them to 88 for 5 before Birch returned and took four of the remaining five wickets. That Warriors recovered to 147 was down to Albie Morkel (25 off 21) and David Wiese (36 off 28), and their stand of 42 for the sixth wicket. Birch finished with career-best T20 figures of 5 for 16.Warriors also lost their first wicket early, to Morkel, but JJ Smuts and Ingram put on a rapid 68 in 8.1 overs to put their chase on track. Once Smuts fell for 33 off 25, Ingram and Ackermann pushed the score past 100, and though Ingram fell to Tabraiz Shamsi for 50 off 45, and Ackermann for a quicker 53 off 34 with three sixes, the chase was sealed with seven balls to spare.At the Diamond Oval in Kimberley, left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin dented Knights chase of 183 with 4 for 39 to give Lions a 20-run win. It was Knights sixth consecutive defeat, after their win over Cape Cobras in tthe tournament opener, as they continued to languish at the bottom of the table.ddddddddddddKnights lost Michael Erlank on the first ball of the chase, caught off fast bowler Hardus Viljoen. Partnerships of 46 for the second wicket between captain Theunis de Bruyn and Leus du Plooy, and 50 for the third wicket between du Plooy and Pite van Biljon helped them recover. Du Plooy was trapped lbw by Fortuin having top-scored with 45, and when van Biljon fell to the same bowler for 42, Knights were 123 for 5. They lost another wicket at the same score, before slapping 39 runs off the last 25 balls to finish on 162 for 6.Opting to bat, Lions had a solid foundation laid by openers Rassie van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks, who put on 66 in 6.5 overs. Hendricks struck five fours and two sixes in his 31-ball knock, and when he fell at the halfway stage, caught off de Bruyns pace bowling, he had made 53 out of Lions total of 88. Thereafter, Nicky van den Bergh took over and pinged four fours and three sixes before perishing in the last over for 57 off 35.Knights bowlers shared the wickets equally with Marchant de Lange, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Aubrey Swanepoel and de Bruyn taking a wicket apiece. 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