Paralympics round-up Day 1: Bronze for Knight and Wild as Games get off to bright start

ParalympicsGB didn’t have long to wait for the first medal of the Games in an exciting first day of action from Beijing

Downhill Bronze for Knight and Wild

Millie Knight and Brett Wild banked ParalympicsGB’s first medal of the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games with a bronze medal in the Women’s VI Alpine Downhill contest. The pair, who took silver in the same event at the PyeongChang Paralympic Winter Games in 2018, finished just 1.5 seconds behind China’s Zhu Daqing, whose silver medal marked the first ever individual Paralympic Winter Games medal for the host nation.

Menna Fitzpatrick and Gary Smith secured fifth place, just behind Slovakia’s Alexandra Rexova in fourth.

In the men’s VI race, Neil Simpson and Andrew Simpson took an encouraging seventh place on Paralympic debut where an astonishing contest saw the podium places separated by just 0.65s, and only 3.68s between first and seventh spot. The Simpson brothers’ final time of 1:17.13 saw them finish less than a tenth of a second behind Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli in sixth.

Meanwhile in the Standing classification, James Whitley banked his best ever Paralympic result on his third visit to the Games, where his time of 1:19.05 was enough to take ninth place, and saw him finish just three seconds outside of the podium spots.

BEIJING, CHINA – MARCH 03: Neil Simpson, with guide Andrew Simpson, during a training session for the Men’s Downhill Vision Impaired ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics at National Alpine Ski Centre on March 03, 2022 in Yanqing, China. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Meenagh breaks into top-10, while Deboys makes debut

Scott Meenagh put in a heroic performance in the Men’s Seated Sprint Biathlon to secure his first top-10 at a Paralympic Games. In a contest dominated by the Chinese team, Meenagh’s time of 20:34.7 saw him comfortably into the top-10 in ninth spot.

Teammate Callum Deboys, making his debut at the Paralympic Winter Games, also gave a strong showing, with a time of 22:32.0 good enough to secure 17th place.

BEIJING, CHINA – MARCH 05: Scott Meenagh crosses the finish line in the Men’s Sprint Sitting Paralympic Para Biathlon during Day One of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics at Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre on March 05, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Header Image: BEIJING, CHINA – MARCH 05: Millie Knight celebrates with her guide Brett Wild following her run in the Women’s Downhill Vision Impaired at Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre during Day One of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics at on March 05, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)