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Neil Simpson and his guide Robert Poth won silver at the Winter Paralympics on Tuesday, the first medal for Great Britain at these Games. But to watch the athletes in visually impaired alpine skiing descend the slopes of the Dolomites at speeds of up to 100 km/h is to be strongly reminded that everyone needs at least another medal, just for being brave enough to do it in the first place.
Talk to the 23-year-old Simpson, however, and the concept of taking one’s life into one’s hands doesn’t come into the equation. Born with the condition nystagmus, which causes involuntary eye movements, he has been skiing since he was four, first on the dry slopes in Aberdeen, then at the Glenshee resort, before competing in national competition aged 16. “I think it’s something that’s never really fazed me”, he says. “It’s just a really fun sport to participate in.”
Simpson learned to ski alongside his brother Andrew, who also acted as his sole guide for many years, including during the Beijing Games four years ago when the pair returned with Britain’s only gold medal in the VI super-G. They both received MBEs in the queen’s birthday honours that year, suggesting Her Majesty understood the scale of their achievement. When Andrew broke a leg a year later, Poth joined the team and he will be Simpson’s guide in their two remaining events, which increasingly look like Britain’s best prospects for further success.
Poth effectively acts as Simpson’s eyes on the course, feeding information to his partner via a Bluetooth headset. “I’m just giving as much detail as possible to him, on different combinations, delays, the terrain.” Poth says. “The guide is always relaying information and Neil is the one who’s judging the distance [between the pair]. It’s constant chat and Neil was managing the distance on that front, telling me to go, go, go or slow down. We try to keep as close as possible and if we can do that, it puts us in the best position possible.”
Simpson says the past three years have been a process of building better understanding between himself and Poth, particularly given the bond he has always had with his brother. “I think it’s about being adaptable and growing the relationship over time,” he says. “But it’s also growing the language that we’ll be using to communicate and being very set in how we’re going to operate when we’re skiing. I’d say that’s the key thing.”
If information is key, so is the process. The games began with a chastening result as Simpson ceded his downhill title after a fourth place finish. Next came the super G and fourth place again. But Simpson seemed to lose no confidence, saying he saw enough in that second event – effectively a speed slalom – that if he could iron out “a few mistakes” he could come again. That he and Poth did, with a field leading time in the slalom half of the combine that pulled them into medal position.
The slalom and the giant slalom now remain and hope is building that they are hitting form in this event at just the right time. “The performance was really good and that breeds confidence for the races to come,” Simpson says. “I think if we can focus on how we were skiing and try and replicate that for the giant slalom and slalom to come, then we should be in a good place.”
ParalympicsGB came into this Games with low-key ambitions, setting an informal medal target of just two to five – they won six at Beijing in 2022 – and an emphasis on athletes achieving their own personal bests. This reflects not only the relative experience of the current crop of athletes but the growing strength of winter Paralympic competition. There are a record number of athletes and nations competing at Milano Cortina and Simpson and Poth find themselves in one of the strongest fields, with the local hero Giacomo Bertagnolli claiming gold in the combine and one half of Austria’s indomitable Aigner siblings, Johannes, winning the other two visually impaired events so far.
Now Simpson and Poth have set the bar in the slalom and that competition looks set to go up a notch when racing resumes on Friday. “I wouldn’t say there’s mind games,” says Simpson of his rivals. “We’re all competitive and it’s a really tight field, but that just pushes everyone on, it makes us perform to the best of our abilities. So it’s really nice to be a part of that and to be pushing for podiums in that group, it means a lot.”
In Paralympic sport camaraderie is everywhere and the human side of sporting achievement never far from view. Poth, unlike Simpson, has admitted to feeling the tension this week and said his feeling on winning silver on Tuesday was mainly one of relief. That, he says, was less to do with his own ambitions though, and more the obligation he felt to his partner. “I think it’s just knowing the level of skier Neil is and what he deserves, to be honest,” Poth says. Now the pair have the chance to go out and get it.
