Millie Knight was relieved to banish her super-G demons when the Winter Paralympic pressure was off with a valiant giant slalom display at Beijing 2022.
The visually impaired skiing star, 23, has endured a rollercoaster of emotions this week but took major pride from finishing ninth in Friday’s giant slalom.
Knight got her Games off to a flyer with a brilliant bronze in the downhill but was ‘heartbroken’ after coming fourth in Sunday and Monday’s super-G and Super Combined.
Those near misses marked two of her best shots of a medal, with the Canterbury speedster admitting she struggles for pace in the more technically-challenging slalom disciplines.
Knight, who goes again in the conventional slalom event on Saturday, said: “That was really good – giant slalom is our weakest discipline and we knew we had nothing to lose.
“There was no pressure of a medal so all we had to do was just give everything out there.
“I came through the finish line smiling and it was very good. The pressure was completely off - it was great.
“It’s been a tale of two halves this week. The downhill was absolutely unbelievable - to come away from the Games with a medal was far beyond my expectations.
“The super-G was heart-breaking and really took something out of me – but putting in the performance in the slalom was brilliant.
“We just want to take some time to enjoy where we are and properly see everything. Taking the pressure off takes the blinkers off as well, so it’s been good.”
Knight’s build-up to the Games was marred by a series of four concussions that almost derailed her Beijing dream.
A particularly severe incident in Leogang, Austria, last February left her place in the team on a knife-edge but a searing World Championship in Lillehammer fired her back into contention.
She soared to Super Combined glory alongside guide Brett Wild and took that momentum firmly with her by banking bronze – despite struggling with a knee injury – on the very first morning in Beijing.
Those pair of super-G and Super Combined setbacks then followed but back at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre on Friday, Knight stopped the clock in 2min 11.33sec to grab a valiant top-ten finish.
And ahead of her final run in Beijing this weekend, she added: “I sustained a bit of a knee jury just before the downhill training runs, which was pretty sore today.
“But I can’t use it as an excuse - being able to push through that is really cool.
“I’d like to say it didn’t hinder me. The conditions were amazing today – it was great.”
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