Super Neil and Super Andrew are the first brother-sister team to win a Winter Paralympics gold medal.
The “paralympic games” is a sporting event that occurs every four years. The Winter Paralympics are an international competition of athletes with a disability. This year, the Winter Paralympics have been held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The Simpsons finished fourth in the super-G at the World Championships in January.
After winning Paralympic gold in the men’s visually impaired super-G skiing event in Beijing, Great Britain’s Neil Simpson described the experience as “nearly indescribable.”
After Kelly Gallagher in 2014 and Menna Fitzpatrick in 2018, the 19-year-old Scot, coached by his brother Andrew, 21, became GB’s third-ever Winter Games gold medalist and the first man to do so.
Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli and his guide Andrea Ravelli finished 0.40 seconds ahead of the twins.
“We had a clear game plan and it worked out fairly nicely,” the ecstatic adolescent added.
“We put everything on the line and really went for it, and I’m really thrilled with the performance – it felt great.”
“I knew it was fast, but I had no idea how wonderful it was.” I’m simply overjoyed; it hasn’t really hit me yet.
“When we first arrived, there was a bit of a nervous wait. I wasn’t thinking about how terrific of a performance it was; I was simply thinking about how fantastic of a run it was.
“Andrew screamed and screamed. ‘Yeah, maybe a podium,’ I replied. It’s only a matter of waiting. It’s almost incomprehensible how high it is.”
Fitzpatrick and her guide Gary Smith had won silver in the women’s event earlier in the day, giving Britain its second medal of the day.
The Simpson brothers, from Banchory, are competing in their first Paralympic Games and placed eighth in the first downhill on Saturday.
The pressure was on the brothers after Austria’s Johannes Aigner, the downhill champion, and then Bertagnolli posted solid times to sit atop the rankings.
However, they got off to a good start and were the quickest at the second intermediate. Despite dropping to second place at the following checkpoint, they finished strong to take the lead, and the other skiers were unable to challenge them.
The brothers have been skiing together since they were children, and in the 2019-20 season, they made their international debut together.
Neil, who was born with nystagmus, a disease that causes involuntary eye movements, continued, “Growing up together simply makes this time incredibly meaningful.”
“Having Andrew around me is really beneficial to me. You may be quite precise and explicit in what you want – even straight and rude at times – making it much simpler to get comments over.
“You don’t have to go around in circles, which is a big plus. We grew up together, therefore we’re already aware of each other’s thoughts.”
The silver success of Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick, 23, had earlier expressed her pride after winning her fifth Paralympic gold of her career, establishing her status as the country’s most successful Winter paralympian.
Fitzpatrick has had a difficult road to the Games, recuperating from a fractured leg in March 2020, while her new guide Katie Guest – who took over the post after Jen Kehoe quit to concentrate on her Army commitments – was ruled out of the Games before to her planned trip due to a positive Covid test.
It meant she was accompanied by Smith, with whom she had previously collaborated throughout the 2019-20 season, and the two finished sixth in the downhill on Saturday.
“To be here at all is an incredible feat,” she added, “but to stand on that platform is really incredible.” “I’m really pleased of what we’ve accomplished together.”
“We went out to ski well and improve on what we did the day before, and we are ecstatic.”
Millie Knight, the bronze medalist in the downhill, finished fourth, 0.09 seconds behind third.
Shona Brownlee finished sixth in the women’s sitting event, while James Whitley finished 19th in the men’s standing event.
The British skiers will compete in the super combined on Monday, which has been moved ahead a day due to high temperatures and the possibility of snow melting at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.
Meanwhile, Scott Meenagh finished 12th in the men’s cross-country long-distance sitting event at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre, just missing out on a second top-10 result in as many events.
James Barnes-Miller was ninth quickest in the men’s upper limb qualifying, while the top four qualifiers were all Chinese competitors, and he will compete in the finals on Monday (from 03:00).
In the men’s LL2 (lower limb) event, Owen Pick and Ollie Hill are also through, while Andy Macleod finishes 17th, narrowly outside the top 16.
