Simpson and Warburton can learn from mistakes after Super-G

Para alpine skiing has a habit of punishing even the smallest of mistakes – a lesson the British skiers had to learn the hard way in the men’s Super-G VI.

Neil Simpson had to settle for a second agonising fourth-place finish at Milano Cortina 2026 as he was unable to defend his Para alpine skiing Paralympic title.

The 23-year-old had taken gold in the event four years ago but finished 1.1 seconds off the podium in Italy.

It put him just 2.4 seconds away from the title he had earned at Beijing 2022, with the top three separated by 1.3 seconds, in an event settled on the finest of margins.

“There was some good skiing so I’m pretty proud of some of that skiing. Unfortunately, a couple of mistakes, but it’s something to work on,” said Simpson.

“The section where there are a little more airtime and jumps, I didn’t quite have the line there. That just meant I didn’t have quite the speed coming over the flat.

“We’ll debrief it tonight and then go again tomorrow but I’m pretty proud of some of the skiing.”

It marked the first time Simpson had competed alongside guide Rob Poth at a Paralympic Games.

The Scot had won gold in the event alongside his brother Andrew Simpson in China, and retained his services for his opening downhill event, with Poth guiding him for the more technical events.

But despite the change in guide, it was another fourth-place finish to the same top three as Austrian Johannes Aigner claimed a second gold.

“I gave it my best shot, unfortunately it wasn’t to be, but it’s something that we need to use to learn for tomorrow and then obviously going into the GS and slalom after that,” he added.

It is a familiar pragmatism from Simpson, who can take confidence from his proximity to the trio currently in the medals as he gears up for three more medal opportunities at the Games.

And it was mistakes that cost Fred Warburton the chance to finish as the fastest AS4 skier in the event.

The 31-year-old finished 12th in 1:24.03 alongside guide James Hannan as a fast opening section gave way to a series of mistakes that caused Warburton to lose momentum.

“We put it on the line. We were trying to push, we were carrying some decent speed through the top and then it all got a bit much and I had a few heavy turns through that top middle section,” he explained.

“Jimbo and I lost a little bit of contact through that middle which is difficult. For me to re-find him, I was using the blue dye on the ground which is pretty scary when you can’t see a great deal.

“As the hero he is always is, he slowed up and came to find me and we reconnected and we finished off well.

“That middle sector really cost us today. It cost us the chance to be the quickest AS4’s out there on the day and it cost the chance to be that quite a bit closer to the others on the day.”

But mistakes also mean plenty of lessons and with the opportunity to race the Super-G course once again in the alpine combined tomorrow, Warburton will certainly use that experience to come out firing once more.

“Today we got a bit of a reality check, but the great news is that we’ve got another chance to smash it out the park tomorrow,” he said.

“We’re really excited for the alpine combined. Bit of retribution in the Super-G sector and then we’ll just let it run in the slalom and see what happens.”