Millie Knight wins Great Britain's first medal at Winter Paralympics 2018

Silver | Millie Knight described her podium place as "the best feeling in the world"
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Standard Sport10 March 2018

Teenager Millie Knight landed Great Britain's first medal of the Winter Paralympics with a "phenomenal" silver in the visually impaired downhill skiing.

Racing with guide Brett Wild, Knight banished memories of a painful crash on the same Pyeongchang course during last year's World Cup finals that caused her to suffer concussion.

She said Saturday's podium finish was "the best feeling in the world".

Knight and Wild clocked one minute and 30.58 seconds, a time beaten only by Slovakian Henrieta Farkasova and her guide Natalia Subrtova.

Canterbury's Knight, 19, said: "I literally can't stop smiling. This is amazing, the year we have had to get here, it has been a struggle. I never really thought we'd be back in this position.

"It is the best feeling in the world. I knew I'd stopped at the finish line and that was my goal, there was no repeats of last year where I just landed on my face.

"I just waited until I could hear what Brett's reaction is because I can't see the screen and when Brett said 'Yes!' I knew it was good."

Wild, from Glasgow, added: "It was phenomenal for us to be back where we wanted to be and be back in the mix."

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James Whitley, the 20-year-old grandson of former Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark, finished 10th in the men's downhill, while Welsh veteran Chris Lloyd took 20th place.

Scotsman Scott Meenagh said there was "such a buzz" on his Paralympics debut as he came home 18th in the sitting 7.5km biathlon.

In Pictures | 2018 Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony

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The 28-year-old former paratrooper lost his legs after stepping on an explosive while serving in Afghanistan seven years ago.

He became the first Briton to compete in the biathlon at the Paralympics since Terry Ahrens 20 years ago.

"It feels amazing, absolutely incredible," Meenagh said. "It's so different at a Paralympics and to be there with some of the best people in the world was an absolute privilege and it brought another level out of me today."

Great Britain made an impressive start to the round-robin wheelchair curling with a 5-2 win over world champions Norway, the result described by skip Aileen Neilson as "a real boost of confidence".

"We're really delighted, the whole team played some really good shots and it was enough to get a win," Neilson said.

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