Winter Paralympics: GB skiers win super G silver and bronze

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Media caption,

GB win super G silver and bronze

Winter Paralympics on the BBC

Venue: Pyeongchang, South Korea Dates: 9-18 March Time in Pyeongchang: GMT +9

Coverage: Follow on Radio 5 live and via the BBC Sport website. Television coverage on Channel 4.

Britain won silver and bronze in the women's super G for visually-impaired skiers on day two of the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang.

Millie Knight and Brett Wild claimed their second silver medals of the Games after finishing second in the downhill.

Menna Fitzpatrick and Jen Kehoe were third with defending champion Kelly Gallagher and guide Gary Smith eighth.

Slovakia's Henrieta Farkasova and Natalia Subrtova won their second gold, after claiming the downhill on day one.

"This time four years ago I was sitting in the crowd watching Kelly win gold and I thought if one day I could be that good it would be amazing," Knight told BBC Sport.

"To get two silvers on day one and two is fantastic. I can't believe it has happened again."

Knight's downhill medal on Saturday, a year after suffering concussion in a race crash, has clearly boosted the 19-year-old's confidence.

Knight and Wild were the first to tackle the course, which has similar speed and technical features to the downhill, on Sunday morning and they set the standard at one minute, 33.76 seconds.

Image source, ParalympicsGB
Image caption,

Knight and Wild are running into form at the right time

But the lead did not last long as once again Farkasova and Subrtova, who have been the star act on the World Cup circuit this season, showed their class, going 3.59 seconds quicker.

After falling on the first bend of Saturday's downhill, Fitzpatrick, also 19, and Kehoe had a point to prove and they did it in style, holding off the challenge of Belgium's Eleonor Sana and her sister Chloe for their first Paralympic medal.

"It has been an emotional last 24 hours," said Fitzpatrick. "I don't think I have ever cried so much while skiing.

"Yesterday was a bit of a downer but we definitely came back here.

"It was one of my big dreams to win a Paralympic medal and I am so proud and excited for the rest of the week."

Both teenagers have just 5% vision and communicate with their guides during their race via Bluetooth headsets, while the guides also wear orange bibs for easier recognition on the slopes.

The double success means Britain are now on three medals after two days of competition, having been set a target of between six and 12 medals by UK Sport for the event with an ambition of at least seven.

In the men's standing competition, the British pair of James Whitley and Chris Lloyd finished 22nd and 25th respectively.

The next alpine skiing event will be Tuesday's super combined.

Mixed fortunes for GB curlers

The GB wheelchair curling team suffered a disappointing 7-4 defeat by Switzerland in their second round-robin match - but bounced back with a resounding 9-2 victory over Finland.

In the day's first game, the team of Bob McPherson, Gregor Ewan, Hugh Nibloe and skip Aileen Neilson were 2-0 up after the second end but Switzerland scored three in the third end to lead 3-2.

From then on, Switzerland held the advantage and although GB tried to force an extra end, skip Felix Wagner took out one of GB's two scoring stones with the final stone of the match to secure the win.

Neilson's team made a strong start against Finland and went into a 2-0 lead before being pegged back after three ends. But from then on it was all GB and they sealed victory with an end to spare.

Image source, AFP
Image caption,

Jong-hyon Kim and team-mate Yu-chol Ma are North Korea's first Winter Paralympians

Britain's sole nordic skiing representative Scott Meenagh finished 17th in his opening cross-country race, the 15km seated event.

The 28-year-old, who was 18th in Saturday's 7.5km biathlon, lost both legs after stepping on an improvised explosive device (IED) while serving in Afghanistan.

South Korea won their first medal of the Games in the event with bronze for Sin Eui-hyun, while North Korea's representatives made their Games debut with Ma Yu-chol finishing 26th, one place ahead of team-mate Kim Jong-hyon.

Super seven for Schaffelhuber

Back on the ski slopes and Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber continued her magnificent Paralympic record with victory in the women's seated super-G.

The 25-year-old, who says she will retire after the Games, won all five of her events in Sochi four years ago and success in Saturday's downhill and again on Sunday means she has now won her last seven Winter Paralympic races.

"My gold medal from yesterday is on the desk, next to the bed. So in the morning when I got up I saw it, it was good motivation for today," said Schaffelhuber.

"I focused on a clever line. I was not sure if it was the fastest line but I tried to go straight when it was possible. When I was in the finish area I had to have a second look at the screen because I did not believe it."

In the women's standing category, there was also a second gold for France's Marie Bochet, who edged out Germany's Andrea Rothfuss by 0.27 seconds.

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