Bold brothers Neil and Andrew Simpson unleash hurricane of alpine bravery in Beijing

By Will Jennings in Beijing

Imagine propelling yourself down a near-vertical mountain with just a fraction of your usual vision and the fate of your safety purely in your older brother's hands.

That's what went through the mind of visually impaired alpine skiing star Neil Simpson ahead of his daring descent at the Winter Paralympics, ripping up the record books by becoming the first British male to strike gold at a Winter Games.

Accompanied by his brother Andrew, the Simpsons shattered new ground at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre to cap a truly super Sunday for the British team by claiming their third medal of this Winter Games in Beijing.

No male British athlete - at either an Olympics or Paralympics - had ever won gold on snow but Scottish star Neil, 19, and non-disabled alpine skiing guide Andrew, 21, decisively changed all that in the early hours of Sunday morning.

“It’s starting to sink in, but not quite fully yet,” said Neil, who grew up in Banchory, near Aberdeen, along with his brother and family.

“We couldn’t quite believe it - I could tell the run was quick but I didn’t know it was something special.

“I’m really happy with how we skied - we really attacked the course, which was our game plan from the inspection.

“I didn’t think a gold medal was on the cards - we were just trying to deliver performances but to win a gold makes me really, really happy.”

Navigating the complexities and jargon of the Paralympic Games can sometimes be a tough conundrum to crack.

The Simpson brothers compete in the visually impaired category of para alpine skiing, one of three classifications alongside the standing - for athletes with upper limb impairments - and sitting - lower limb - events.

The visually impaired skier departs the start gate just after their guide to descend the course closely behind them, connected via a cutting-edge Bluetooth headset that allows the latter to disseminate details concerning the contours and intricacies of the course.The pair need to zig-zag their way through a series of gates - a minimum of 30 - on their way to the bottom, determined in distance and distribution by the nature of the event.

The Super-G - where the Simpsons reigned supreme - marks a hybrid of the downhill and giant slalom events, with athletes requiring a combination of speed and technical prowess to navigate their way to the finish line in the shortest possible time.

And the event itself is ranked by the severity of an athlete’s disability, with time differentials factored in accordingly between B1 athletes - the most severe - and B3 - the least.

Neil, who was born with nystagmus - a condition that causes involuntary eye movement - competes in the B3 classification and won his race by 0.4s ahead of Italian Giacomo Bertagnolli.

He first took to the Scottish snow at Gordon Skiers Club in Aberdeen and after grabbing two golds at the 2018 British World Championship, his journey to the skiing summit was firmly underway.

A nomination for the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2020 after a searing international season soon followed and now, his path to Paralympic stardom and alpine nirvana is complete.

Andrew added: “If either of us make a mistake it could end up inuring both of us, so trust is very important.

“We’re absolutely delighted. We were really happy with how the ski went – when we crossed the line and saw it had paid off, it was just amazing.

“We spoke to the family back in Aberdeen at the end once we were in the finish area. They’ve got a few family friends round tonight it’s the weekend, so we’re all absolutely delighted.”

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