Slalom silver for Fitzpatrick and Kehoe in Slovenia

Paralympic champions Menna Fitzpatrick and Jennifer Kehoe made it two podiums in two races with a silver medal in the slalom at the World Para Alpine Skiing Championships.

The British duo, who claimed slalom gold at PyeongChang 2018, finished second behind Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova and her guide Natalia Subrtova in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Australian Melissa Perrine and her guide Bobbi Kelly completed the podium, while Kelly Gallagher and Gary Smith narrowly missed out on bronze as the British pair came fourth.

Fitzpatrick and her guide Kehoe were sitting in bronze medal position after posting a first run of 1:07.79, with Perrine and Kelly leading the way more than two seconds ahead.

But Britain’s most successful Winter Paralympians delivered an impressive second run of 1:05.74 for an overall time of 2:13.53 to move into silver, 5.08 seconds behind the flying Farkasova and Subrtova.

A mistake from Perrine and Kelly then saw the Australian pair drop down to bronze with an overall time of 2:18.05, 9.60 seconds behind the eventual gold medallists.

Gallagher and Smith just missed out on the podium with an overall time of 2:19.84, while the Czech Republic’s Anna Peskova and her guide Michaela Hubacova were fifth in 2:58.29.

For Fitzpatrick and Kehoe, their silver medal improved on their previous best World Championship slalom result of fourth from 2017.

“We really just wanted to put down two solid runs and see how it ended up,” said Kehoe.

“Then after the first run, the top three were really close so we had another chat and we still just wanted to put down a strong, safe run and not risk it too much because there was a good chance one of the other two might make a mistake and that’s what happened so we’re really happy with the result.”

The silver medal for Fitzpatrick and Kehoe meant they improved on their bronze medal in the giant slalom, where Farkasova and Subrtova also claimed top spot.

Fitzpatrick and Kehoe became Britain’s most successful Winter Paralympians last year at PyeongChang, where they finished with one gold, two silvers and one bronze.

The World Championships now switch to Sella Nevea, Italy, for the speed events from 29 January.