Great Britain has secured its first medal of the Winter Paralympics, with Neil Simpson claiming silver in the men’s alpine combined event.
The Scottish skier, guided by Rob Poth, delivered a strong performance after narrowly missing out on the podium in earlier races.
Simpson, alongside guide Rob Poth, had finished fourth in both the Super-G – where he had been looking to defend his title – and the downhill events on Monday.
After sitting in fourth following Tuesday’s opening Super-G run in a factored time of one minute and 14.55 seconds, a superb slalom run of 42.52 seconds saw Simpson move top of the provisional overall standings.
The silver medal was guaranteed after Canada’s Kalle Ericsson dropped out of contention over the slalom.
Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli, the leader after the Super-G, was the last competitor down the course. Bertagnolli’s third-fastest slalom time of 42.89s was just enough to edge out Simpson to take the gold by 0.65s in front of a home crowd. Austria’s Johannes Aigner claimed bronze.
"The visually impaired men’s is really strong and there’s lots of really great guys in there so really pleased to get on to the podium," said Simpson, who now has three Paralympic medals after the gold and bronze he won in Beijing.
"I would say there were good performances in the fourth places, so we are just glad to continue that, especially going into the slalom as well."
Poth, stepping in for Simpson’s brother Andrew, also feels the British pair can take confidence into the giant slalom event on Friday, with the slalom race following on Sunday.
"I’m buzzing with it to be honest," he said. "For me, it was a little bit of a relief, but I think our slalom is in a great place and I think we won that run."
Britain’s Fred Warburton, guided by James Hannan, failed to finish the Super-G course. In the women’s combined VI event, Menna Fitzpatrick, GB’s most decorated Paralympic skier, finished in ninth place with her guide Katie Guest.
"Every race that you do builds on confidence. It adds little bits every time," said Fitzpatrick, who had placed sixth in the women’s Super-G. "It’s more experience in the start gate and it helps calm the nerves as well. We know where to go for the next few races."
Earlier on Tuesday, Britain’s mixed wheelchair curling team were beaten 8-6 by hosts Italy, slipping to another disappointing defeat in the round-robin stage. Hugh Nibloe’s team will be back in action at Cortina Curling Centre against China on Wednesday morning.
"We are going to come out and are going to do the very best we can. The pressure has left us now," said Nibloe. "We have not been destroyed like other teams have been, so we have got positives to take. It is an inexperienced team and some of these guys have more Paralympics in them so let’s see what it feels like to win again."
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