Neil Simpson soars to first medal of Milano Cortina 2026 with alpine combined silver

Neil Simpson has claimed ParalympicsGB’s first medal of Milano Cortina 2026 with silver in the men’s alpine skiing alpine combined, four years after winning bronze in the same event.

Sitting in fourth place after the Super-G run in the morning, Simpson, with guide Rob Poth, produced the best time of the slalom run to jump into the silver medal position, completing his full set of Paralympic medals.

Simpson won a gold medal and a bronze in Beijing in 2022, both with brother Andrew as a guide, while in Milano Cortina, he is being guided by Poth on the technical events, with Andrew his guide for the speed events.

“I’m really chuffed with the performance. [There was] some good skiing on the second run and we carried out the plan we had from course inspection,” he said.

“It was technically good solid skiing, that was the plan from inspection, and we carried that out quite well.

“The visually impaired men’s is really strong and there’s lots of really great guys in there so really pleased to get onto the podium.”

His time of 1:14.55 put him half a second outside the medal positions at the halfway stage of the alpine combined event, with home favourite Giacomo Bertagnolli leading the way.

Simpson then produced a stunning slalom run, crossing the line in 42.52 seconds to move into first place.

Two more competitors came and went without overtaking him, guaranteeing Simpson at least a silver.

Bertagnolli started the slalom run with a lead of more than a second however, and made no mistake on his way to gold, a fifth after two apiece in Beijing and PyeongChang.

With alpine combined requiring athletes to run in both the Super-G and slalom, it bodes well for Simpson’s remaining slalom and giant slalom events.

“With the giant slalom, we feel pretty ready for that and then after today for the slalom, we’re feeling really good and hopefully we can do well in the two remaining events,” he said.

It marked guide Poth’s first Paralympic medal, after joining Simpson’s team to guide him in the more technical events.

And the partnership appears to be paying dividends, with Poth’s background as a specialist in the slalom event already delivering results with two more races to come.

“I’m buzzing with it to be honest. For me, it was a little bit of a relief, but I think our slalom is in a great place and we won that run,” said the 28-year-old.

“We’re building up the confidence. That’s definitely taken it up another notch and we’re getting closer and closer to that top step. We’re on a high and hopefully we can continue on that trajectory.”

Fred Warburton had run in the same event as Simpson alongside guide James Hannan but did not finish after hitting a rut in the piste at turn five on the Super-G.

And Menna Fitzpatrick continues to build fitness with her guide Katie Guest after returning from an ACL as she finished ninth in the women’s alpine combined VI in 2:20.88.