Winter Paralympics: Nordic skier Scott Meenagh feeling inspired in Beijing heat

Sctott Meenagh believes a boiling Beijing biathlon intensified his “inspiration” for success after keeping his cool in the sunshine to equal his best ever result.

Scott Meenagh after the Para biathlon 10km race

The Scottish Nordic skier claimed his second consecutive top 10 finish in the gruelling 10km biathlon and still has two more races to come in the Chinese capital.

Meenagh, who shattered new ground by becoming the first Nordic skier to represent ParalympicsGB at a Games for 20 years at PyeongChang 2018, stopped the clock in a time of 33:11.7 as home favourite Liu Mengtao grabbed gold.

Meenagh has now racked up two ninths – his 10km result equalling his career Paralympic best – and a 12th in Beijing and reckons basking in the warm Chinese weather held the key to his success.

The 32-year-old said: “That was a really fun race today and I enjoyed every moment of it. The sun’s out and I really enjoyed it – I’ve been feeling pretty inspired for the last couple of races out here.

“There was a lot of misses out there which kept it very competitive, disappointed to have joined the group with all those misses, but that’s biathlon.

“I felt like I skied really well and kept myself in the race right up until the very last lap and I think for me that’s all I can ask for - just to be in the conversation.

“On the shooting mat you’re talking millimetres, it’s fractions, in either direction and it can have such a drastic impact on your performance outcome.

“On the same side I’m frustrated that I can’t just push that over the line, but also really inspired by the fact that if it comes together it can be something really exciting.”

Meenagh kicked off his Paralympic campaign with ninth in the speedy 6km biathlon sprint before finishing