Bullish Banchory brothers Andrew and Neil Simpson believe their ‘fired-up’ family connection can propel them towards a medal at the Winter Paralympic Games.

Visually impaired skier Neil, 19, finished seventh alongside brother Andrew – his guide – in Saturday’s downhill event as their Paralympic adventure got underway in Beijing.

The Aberdeenshire duo have arrived in the Chinese capital in red-hot form after banking three top five finishes at January’s World Championship and are targeting a place on the podium in Sunday’s Super-G and Tuesday’s Super Combined events.

Their telepathic bond has been pivotal to their rise and Andrew says their ability to get the best out of each other can haul them into contention in Beijing.

The 21-year-old said: “Our connection is very good with each other.

“We’ve been skiing together for a long time but being brothers as well, we know exactly what each other need and want.

“We know how to get each other fired up. I know what information Neil needs to get down the course as quickly as possible, so it works really well.”

Neil, who along with his brother is one of over 1,000 athletes are able to train full-time, access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support thanks to vital National Lottery funding, added: “Being out here with Andrew makes it all an extra bit special for me – we’ve been working for it for a long time and it’s an experience we’ll cherish for a long, long time to come.

“I’m very pleased with the way we went about it [today].

“We had a very clear focus after the last training, settling through certain sections and I think we did that pretty well. I’m very pleased with that aspect.

“The course itself is very inviting up top and the whole way down, you have to really get after it, especially with the wind today to get as aerodynamic as possible, so it’s a really fun course and hill to ski on.”

Neil and Andrew secured a scintillating World Championship silver in Lillehammer to emerge as genuine medal contenders on the eve of the Games.

That success came in the Super Combined event, with the downhill in Norway marking the first time they had skied together in the daring, near-vertical discipline.

They delivered a valiant showing in Yanqing on Saturday morning by finishing just three seconds off the podium places as Austrian Johannes Aigner – accompanied by guide Matteo Fleischmann – won gold.

Attention now turns to Sunday’s Super-G and Neil hopes the valuable Paralympic experience gained can function as a springboard for climbing up the standings.

“We had some good training in Austria during the build-up to the Games, focusing on all the disciplines out there,” he added.

“Looking ahead to the rest of the competition, we’re looking forward to the Super-G down this hill – the conditions suit it really well so I’m very excited.

“The main aim is just to ski well first of all and take the technical focuses from training into our races, before seeing where that takes us.”

No one does more to support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes than National Lottery players, who raise more than £30 million each week for good causes including grassroots and elite sport. Discover the positive impact playing the National Lottery has at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and get involved by using the hashtag: #TNLAthletes