Winter Paralympics 2026: Neil Simpson and guide Rob Booth win alpine combined silver

Neil Simpson and his guide Rob Booth won Great Britain’s first medal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics with silver in the alpine combined.

It is the third Paralympic medal for the visually impaired skiers, who had recorded fourth-place finishes twice earlier in these Games.

In combined alpine races, skiers complete a round of both super-G and slalom, adding up their calculated times to determine the final standings.

Simpson and Booth sat in fourth place after the morning super-G, 0.57 seconds behind in third place.

But in the slalom, they recorded the fastest time of the day to move up two places as Canadian Calle Eriksson and her guide, Sierra Smith, crashed out of contention.

Italian Giacomo Bertagnoli and assistant Andrea Ravelli won the gold medal, finishing 0.65 seconds behind Simpson and Booth overall, while Austrians Johannes Aigner and Nico Haberl won the bronze medal.

“I’m really happy with the performance and some good skating in the second round and we executed the plan we had,” Simpson, 23, said.

“Blind men [category] “He’s really strong, there are a lot of very fast players, so I’m happy to get on the podium.”

Four years ago, Simpson, under the guidance of his brother Andrew, won Great Britain’s only gold medal at the Beijing Games with a victory in the super-G, a win that cemented him as the first British man to win gold at a Winter Paralympic Games.

His medal in Milan-Cortina adds to the bronze he won in the combined alpine races at the recent Games, while the fourth place he scored in both downhill with his brother and super-G with Booth has improved in recent days.

For Booth, 28, this is his first Paralympic medal at his first Games.

“I’m feeling energized. For me it was a little bit relaxing, but our slalom is in a great place,” he said.

Simpson and Booth have two more medal chances at these Games, in the giant slalom on Friday and the slalom on Sunday.

They recorded the fastest time in the alpine slalom combined, crossing the line in 42.52 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the next fastest, which bodes well for both events.

“With the giant slalom, we feel pretty prepared for it, and for the slalom, we feel really good and hopefully we can do well,” Simpson said.

Booth added: “With run after run, we’re building confidence, and that’s definitely raised the bar as we get closer to that top step.

“We are at an all-time high and we hope we can continue on this path.”