Great Britain secured their first medal of the Winter Paralympics on Tuesday as Neil Simpson claimed silver in the men's visually impaired alpine combined. The 23-year-old, guided by Rob Poth, finished behind Italy's Giacomo Bertagnolli but ahead of Austria's Johannes Aigner, who has won two gold medals at these Games.
Simpson's performance came after three days of near-misses for ParalympicsGB, including his own fourth place in the downhill on Monday. The team had been under pressure, with Menna Fitzpatrick finishing last in the women's visually impaired combined earlier on Tuesday. Simpson's silver medal is expected to boost confidence for the remainder of the week.
“It was just technically good, solid skiing,” said Simpson. “The visually impaired is really strong. There’s lots of really quick guys in there. So, yeah, we’re very, very pleased to get on to the podium.” He added that a clear plan helped him handle the pressure in the slalom run, where he posted the fastest time to climb from fourth place.
Guide Rob Poth expressed optimism for the remaining two events, both in slalom. “Run by run we’re building up the confidence, but that definitely took it up another notch,” he said. “We’re getting closer and closer to that top step, we’re on a high and hopefully we can continue on that trajectory.”
Meanwhile, Great Britain's mixed curling team continued their struggles, losing 8-6 to Italy to leave them with just one win in six matches. They sit ninth in the table with three games remaining.
