Sunday Mirror

KNIGHT STRIFE AS WILD EXITS

- From WILL JENNINGS in Bejing

MILLIE KNIGHT fears for the future of her skiing career due to the daunting prospect of replacing long-term guide Brett Wild.

The visually impaired star, 23, has racked up four Paralympic medals alongside Wild since

2018. But the pair raced together for the final time in Beijing yesterday as they finished eighth in the slalom.

Knight and Wild, 29, first united in 2016 but after bolstering their Paralympic medals – including downhill bronze last weekend – with six World Championsh­ip podiums, Glaswegian Wild is moving on to a career in the Royal Navy.

Knight admits her career is on a knife-edge as she looks to rebuild for Milan-Cortina 2026.

“Before Brett, I had hundreds of guides and finding the right one was very, very difficult,” said the Canterbury speedster.

“It took a long time and I’m not looking forward to having to go through that again. It’s quite unsettling.

“Hopefully there’ll be somebody who will want to put up with me. I don’t really know what I’m going to do without Brett – I’ll be lost for a while and it will be challengin­g.”

Knight and Wild followed up their bronze with fourth-place finishes in the Super-G and Super Combined before top 10s in the technical slalom events brought their journey to an end.

Team-mate Menna Fitzpatric­k, who became Britain’s most decorated Winter Paralympia­n this week, was unable to add to her haul of six medals as she finished fourth on Saturday to miss out on a podium by 0.55s.

Nordic skier Steve Arnold, 42, capped a miraculous recovery from Covid to compete in his 10km cross-country skiing event. He finished 29th behind team-mates Scott Meenagh and Callum Deboys.

■■No one does more to support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes than National Lottery players, who raise more than £30million each week for good causes.

 ?? ?? SLIPPING AWAY Wild departure unsettles Knight
SLIPPING AWAY Wild departure unsettles Knight

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