Millie Knight wins bronze at Winter Paralympics to land ParalympicsGB's first medal of the Games in Beijing

Millie Knight delivered a daring downhill display to bag a brave Beijing bronze at the Winter Paralympics - but admits the real twists and turns had already taken place at the start gate.

The visually impaired alpine skiing star from Canterbury banked her fourth Paralympic medal on Saturday after battling back from a rocky ride on the World Cup circuit to miraculously clamber onto the podium.

Knight suffered a series of concussions over the last 12 months and admitted her preparations for the Games were derailed after a severe incident in Austria last February.

The Kent speedster has been desperate to overcome the ‘fear’ of falling once again and says laying those demons to rest in Yanqing - and claiming ParalympicsGB’s first medal of the Games - was far from plain sailing.

Knight, 23, said: “At the start gate I was absolutely terrified, I was so nervous.

“Every time I’ve closed my eyes over the last 48 hours, I visualised the course. It’s been fantastic but also pretty terrifying, because every time I tried to sleep, all I could see was the start gate.

“But that has actually been fantastic because it meant when I was in the start gate today, I knew exactly which line we needed to take and what I needed to do on each section.

“I pushed out and we achieved every goal that we needed to do - Brett’s reaction at the bottom was unbelievable, and it was so worth it.

“It’s very surreal. We certainly haven’t processed the emotions yet and I think it will take quite a long time before we actually do that.

“I was sat back in the UK and crossing the line with a smile on my face was my No.1 goal.

“A medal was certainly something we weren’t aiming for because we genuinely didn’t believe we were at the level that would get us a medal.