Simpson and guide Poth win Paralympic silver for GB

Neil Simpson and his guide Rob Poth won Great Britain's first medal of the Milan‑Cortina Winter Paralympics with silver in the alpine combined.

“Neil Simpson and his guide Rob Poth won Great Britain's first medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics with silver in the alpine combined”

BBC

It is a third Paralympic medal overall for Simpson, who had recorded two fourth‑place finishes earlier in these Games.

BBC

Simpson and Poth had sat in fourth after the morning's super G, 0.57 seconds short of third.

In the alpine combined skiers complete a run of both the super G and slalom, with their factored times combined to determine the final standings.

Simpson and Poth recorded the fastest time in the afternoon slalom run, crossing the line in 42.52 seconds - one-tenth of a second quicker than the next fastest run.

They moved up two places as Canada's Kalle Ericsson and his guide Sierra Smith fell out of contention.

BBC

Italy's Giacomo Bertagnolli and guide Andrea Ravelli defended their title from 2022, finishing 0.65 seconds ahead of Simpson and Poth overall.

Austria's Johannes Aigner and Nico Haberl won bronze.

Simpson, 23, who was born with nystagmus, said: 'I'm really chuffed with the performance, some good skiing on the second run and we carried out the plan we had.'

“Neil Simpson and his guide Rob Poth won Great Britain's first medal of the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics with silver in the alpine combined”

BBC

For Poth, 28, it is a first Paralympic medal at his maiden Games.

Poth said: 'I'm buzzing. For me it was a little bit of a relief, but our slalom is in a great place.'

The pair have two further chances of medals at these Games, in Friday's giant slalom and Sunday's slalom.

Simpson added: 'With the giant slalom, we feel pretty ready for that, and for the slalom, we're feeling really good and hopefully we can do well.'

Poth said: 'Run by run, we are building up the confidence, that has definitely taken it up a notch and we're getting closer to that top step.'

He added: 'We're on a high and hopefully we can continue on that trajectory.'

Fred Warburton crashed out of the super G run in the same event as Simpson and Poth, meaning he and his guide James Hannan could not progress to the slalom.

In the women's visually impaired event, Britain's Menna Fitzpatrick and her guide Katie Guest finished ninth.

BBC

The article states Fitzpatrick has won one gold, three silver and two bronze medals in two previous Games.

The article says Fitzpatrick is on the comeback trail from injury, having broken her leg and sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury within the past 18 months.

The article adds that UK Sport believes the ParalympicsGB team can win between two and five medals at these Games.

The article notes the team won six medals four years ago in Beijing.