Mixed Doubles Curlers Fall Short of Semi-Final Spot
Great Britain's wheelchair curlers Jo Butterfield and Jason Kean were unable to secure a place in the mixed doubles semi-finals at the Winter Paralympics, continuing the nation's difficult start to the Games.
Butterfield and Kean concluded the round-robin stage with three wins and four losses. Two days prior, they were joint second in the standings, positioned strongly with the prospect that a single victory from their final two matches would likely ensure progression.
On Sunday, they faced unbeaten China as underdogs but initially took a commanding 5-1 lead after three ends. However, a tactical shift by their opponents reversed the momentum.
In their final match on Monday against Italy, who were last in the standings with only one win and no chance of qualifying, the British pair faced a challenging start. Italy gained a 4-0 lead in the first end and extended it to 10-4 after six ends, energized by a vociferous home crowd in Cortina.
Demonstrating resilience, Butterfield and Kean scored six points over the last two ends to force an extra end. Unfortunately, they miscalculated their final two shots, resulting in an 11-10 loss to Italy.
"We're gutted, we're devastated," said Butterfield, who aimed to become the first British athlete to win gold at both the Summer and Winter Paralympics following her club throw gold at Rio 2016.
"We came here with a plan and we didn't quite execute it. The one thing I'll say is that I'm really proud of [Kean] and I'm proud of us.
"We left it all out there, absolutely everything, and we just fell short at the end. It hurts."
Kean, making his Paralympic debut, added: "At 10-4 down in the sixth end, I didn't think it was possible to get to an extra end but we somehow managed to dig it out.
[I'm] absolutely gutted, but we tried our very best. It hurts quite a lot."
Simpson Narrowly Misses Paralympic Title Defence
Para-alpine skier Neil Simpson, a two-time Paralympic medallist from Beijing 2022, was unable to defend his super G title, finishing fourth for the second time at these Games.
Simpson and his brother and guide Andrew had won Great Britain's only gold medal at the 2022 Games in the visually impaired super G, marking him as the first British man to win gold at a Winter Paralympics.
At Milan-Cortina, Simpson competed with guide Rob Poth following a late change. Despite strong skiing, difficulties on the mid-section of the Tofane piste resulted in a finish 1.1 seconds off the podium.
"There was some good skiing, so I'm pretty proud. Unfortunately there were just a couple of mistakes," said the 23-year-old, who also placed fourth in Saturday's downhill.
"The section where there was a bit more air time and jumps, I just didn't quite have the line there, so that just meant I didn't have the speed over the flat."
Austria's Johannes Aigner claimed gold, securing his second Paralympic title of the Games after winning the downhill event.
Simpson's British teammate Fred Warburton, with guide James Hannan, finished 12th after a run he described as "bit of a battle." Both British pairs are scheduled to compete in three more events, beginning with Tuesday's alpine combined, which includes both super G and slalom runs.
"I gave it my best shot, unfortunately it wasn't to be but it's something that we need to learn from," Simpson added, noting that he and Poth had won the 2023 super G World Championship title.
Fitzpatrick Builds Confidence Returning from Injury
Menna Fitzpatrick, Britain's most decorated Winter Paralympian with six medals including slalom gold in 2018, made her first appearance at these Games with a sixth-place finish in the women's visually impaired super G.
Fitzpatrick has faced significant challenges over the past 18 months, suffering a broken leg at the end of 2024 and an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during training in December. She chose to forgo surgery to participate in the Games.
After training runs on the course last week, Fitzpatrick and her guide Katie Guest opted to skip Saturday's downhill event to focus on her preferred disciplines.
In the super G, where she previously won silver and bronze at the last two Games, the duo completed the course in 1 minute 25.52 seconds, over 10 seconds behind Italy's Chiara Mazzel, who took gold for the host nation.
"It was a step up from our training runs," Fitzpatrick said.
"I managed to let the skis run a bit more, which is a step in the right direction for sure. I was way more confident and really enjoyed the course.
"It's so lovely to actually be out here after the last two seasons of being injured. I had a lot of fun and I've got great confidence in the knee itself, just the [other] girls are skiing really well and they're pushing the competition, so we'll slowly get closer.
"Now that I've done one [event], I'm way more excited and confident for the next races."
GB Wheelchair Curling Team Narrowly Defeated by South Korea
In wheelchair curling mixed team competition, Great Britain suffered a 7-6 loss to South Korea in their first of two matches.
Following two ends, the British team made a substitution with alternate Graeme Stewart replacing Hugh Nibloe, and Stewart Pimblett assuming skip responsibilities.
Initially trailing 3-0, Great Britain rallied to score four points over the next three ends to take the lead. After exchanging two-point scores, South Korea, holding the hammer in the final end, secured the two points needed to win.
Stewart told : "I thought the team did great. It was a big shock for me coming on, but as usual the team adapts and gets on with it.
I'm just gutted with the result. You always look at the negatives rather than the positives, but we need to start looking at the positives because we play well and it's just the odd small thing."
Pimblett, who took over throwing the final stones for Great Britain, said: "I feel gutted at the minute but we need to bounce back because we've got a game tonight [against Sweden at 17:35 GMT].
I'm proud of what we did and especially proud of Graeme because he showed what a brilliant player he is."
Great Britain have played four of their nine scheduled round-robin matches, with one win and three losses.
