Winter Paralympics 2026: Great Britain win just one medal but bright future ahead

The sight of Neil Simpson standing on either side of a door at the start of Sunday’s slalom run perhaps epitomized just how tricky these Winter Paralympics have been for Great Britain.

The only medal won – a silver for Simpson and guide Rob Poth in the blind Alpine skiing – was the team’s worst finish at the Winter Games since Vancouver 2010, when they went home empty-handed.

With Great Britain winning at least six medals in every edition in between and just over £7 million being poured into the sport by UK Sport in the Winter Paralympic program over the last four years, questions can rightly be asked.

But the highs of the previous Games were never expected to be reached this time.

Due to injuries and an inexperienced squad (17 of the 25-strong Paralympic GB squad were making their debuts) UK Sport set the medal range at two to five, but there will inevitably be discontent as even the lower limit is not met.

UK Sport performance director Dr. “I think it’s impossible for us to be disappointed in any of these athletes, the journey they’ve had to get here and the level of determination and resilience they’ve shown to qualify for the Paralympic Games is truly worth celebrating,” Kate Baker said.

“I think in many ways these Games have come a little too soon for some of our athletes, so we can be excited for the future.

“We are in disciplines we have not been in before, showing an emerging depth and real potential for the future.”

“Obviously we’d like to see other medal-winning performances,” added Paralympic Games chief Phil Smith. “There are a lot of things to be positive about the Games in general.

“We know winter sports are fraught with danger. If you had run again this week, with a little more luck we might have been somewhere more in the middle of that goal and things might have turned out a little differently.”