ALPINE skier Neil Simpson narrowly missed out on a medal for the second time at the Winter Paralympics in Cortina, finishing fourth in defence of his Super-G vision impaired title today.

The Scot won gold in the event at Beijing four years ago, but was edged off the podium by just over a second as Austria’s Johannes Aigner triumphed.

Simpson, who also placed fourth in the downhill and has three more medals still to play for, was a major medal hope for Great Britain today, but let a couple of minor errors creep in after a strong start at the top of his run.

“I made a mistake coming off one of the rollovers, got a bit of air and just dropped the line too much,” he told Channel 4.

“I’m disappointed but proud to at least give it my best shot today. We’ll have a little debrief then go into tomorrow with the best mindset possible.”

Guide Rob Poth, stepping in for Simpson’s brother Andrew, said: “The top half was good and we can clean things up down the bottom. We can go all guns blazing into tomorrow, we’re in a good place and not too deflated. Plenty more races to come.”

Earlier, GB’s most decorated Paralympic skier Menna Fitzpatrick finished sixth in the women’s Super-G and quickly shifted her focus to other opportunities this week.

“Now that I’ve done one, I’m way more excited and confident for the next races,” she said.

“I managed to let the skis run a bit more which is a step in the right direction for sure but I was way more confident and just really enjoyed this course.”