Neil Simpson and his guide Rob Poth gave Great Britain their first medal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Paralympics with a silver medal in the alpine combined event.
It was the third Paralympic medal for the visually impaired skier, who had finished fourth twice earlier in the Games.
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In the alpine combined, skiers complete super-G and slalom races, with their times combined to determine the final ranking.
Simpson and Porth were fourth after the morning’s super-G, 0.57 seconds behind third.
But in the slalom they set the fastest time of the day and moved up two places, with Canadian Kalle Ericsson and his guide Sierra Smith falling out of contention.
Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli and tour guide Andrea Ravelli won gold, 0.65 seconds ahead of Simpson and Persia, while Austria’s Johannes Aigner and Nico Haberl won bronze.
Simpson, 23, who was born with nystagmus, a condition that causes involuntary eye movements, said: “I’m really happy with the performance, the second run was good and we executed our plan.”
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“Visually Impaired Man Sports It’s really strong and there’s a lot of fast guys in it, so I’m happy to be on the podium. “
Four years ago, Simpson, coached by his brother Andrew, won Britain’s only gold medal at the Beijing Olympics with a super-G victory, a victory that made him the first British man to win gold at the Winter Paralympics.
His medal in Milan-Cortina adds to the bronze he won in the alpine at the last edition, while also improving on his recent fourth-place finishes in the downhill with his brother and in the super-G with Poth.
For the 28-year-old Persia, it was his first Paralympic medal in his first Olympics.
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“I’m excited. For me, it’s a little bit of a relief, but we’re in a great spot slalom,” he said.
Simpson and Porth have two more medal chances at this Olympics, in Friday’s giant slalom and Sunday’s slalom.
They set the fastest overall time in the alpine slalom, crossing the line in 42.52 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the next fastest time, which is a good sign for both events.
“For the giant slalom, we feel ready, for the slalom, we feel really good and hopefully we can do well,” Simpson said.
Poss added: “Time after time, we’re building confidence and this definitely takes it up a notch and we’re getting closer to the top.
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“We’re at the top of our game and hopefully we can continue on that trajectory.”
Earlier in the day, Britain’s Fred Warburton fell during the super-G event in the same event as Simpson and Porth, meaning he and his guide James Hannan were unable to enter the slalom event.
In the women’s visually impaired event, Britain’s most decorated Winter Paralympian Menna Fitzpatrick and her guide Katie Guest finished ninth.
Fitzpatrick won one gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the previous two Olympics but is still recovering from a broken leg and an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury over the past 18 months.
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England Sport believes the British Paralympic team can win between two and five medals at this Games, having won six medals in Beijing four years ago.
