Day 8 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games in Beijing saw Scottish athletes representing ParalympicsGB back on the snow.
Para Alpine Skiing
Downhill bronze medal pair Millie Knight and Glasgow’s Brett Wild were back in action in the Vision Impaired Slalom, finishing in 8th place in a time of 1:41.47.
The Slalom also marked the end of Brett’s career as a guide. After a skiing partnership with Millie that began in 2016, the Scot plans to return to his career in the Navy and begin Officer training.
“It’s been such a huge part of my life for the last seven years, and such an amazing, enjoyable experience. It’s nothing short of unbelievable what we have achieved in such a short time, it’s going to be challenging moving on.”
“I’ve lived the dream.” ⛷⛷
End of an era as @BrettWild announces his retirement from Paralympic sport, returning to @RoyalNavy service.
Thank you for everything, Brett. 🙌#Paralympics pic.twitter.com/TkWufeZNsJ
— ParalympicsGB (@ParalympicsGB) March 12, 2022
Livingston’s Shona Brownlee meanwhile rounded off her debut Paralympic Games with a 9th place finish in the women’s Slalom Sitting event. Shona only began skiing internationally in 2019 and believes the experience she has gained in Beijing will stand her in great stead for the future.
She recovered strongly after falling in her first run, regaining her composure to finish the course and ensure a second outing in the afternoon.
“When I knew I was falling, the only thought in my head was I’m not giving up,” she explained.
“I didn’t come here to give up at the fourth gate, I’m here for the experience and the only way to do that was to get the second run.”
“It’s just been an incredible experience – pretty terrifying at times, so to come out here and get three finishes under my belt – it feels pretty good.”
Para Nordic Skiing
Callum Deboys, Scott Meenagh and Hope Gordon were all back in action in the cross-country middle-distance races.
Following the high of a sixth-place finish in Friday’s biathlon, Scott Meenagh couldn’t quite reproduce the form that took him to his best Paralympic result finishing in 16th place. Callum Deboys finished the race in 21st place.
Competing for the first time over the 7.5km distance, Hope Gordon admitted that despite the soft snow conditions, she was proud of her 16th place 38:01.4 finish after having spent just nine weeks on snow.
“That was hard, I think mash tatties is the word to describe the conditions today, it just felt like ploughing through mash tatties from start to finish,” said Hope.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever done a 7.5km so nothing like being thrown in at the deep end against the best girls in the world at the highest level so I think I can take a bit of pride in just getting round that course.”