Ukraine and France sealed gold in the cross-country mixed and open relays on Wednesday (15 February) at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships in Finsterau, Germany.<br /><br />The Ukrainian team, made up of Sochi 2014 silver medallist Iurii Utkin, guided by Ruslan Perekhoda, Liudmyla Liashenko, multiple-Paralympic champion Oleksandra Kononova and seven-time Paralympic silver medallist Iuliia Batenkova clocked 26:56.5 to win the mixed relay.<br /><br />It was the third gold for standing skier Liashenko and the second for visually impaired skier Iurii Utkin. Standing athletes Kononova and Batenkova both won their first cross-country titles in Finsterau.<br /><br />“This is a really good result, we made a huge effort to achieve this,” said Ukrainian head coach Andriy Nesterenko.<br /><br />The Swedish team (27:17.5), with Helena Ripa and Zebastian Modin and guide Johannes Andersson took silver.<br /><br />Belarus (28:12.3) collected bronze thanks to Dzmitry Loban, Sviatlana Sakhanenka, guided by Iryna Nafranovich, Valiantsina Shyts and Mikita Ladzesau and guide Aliaksei Lukyanau.<br /><br />The French team successfully defended their title from 2015 in the open relay with a time of 23:55.9. Benjamin Daviet, Anthony Chalencon and guide Simon Valverde, and Thomas Clarion, guided by Antoine Bollet made up the team.<br /><br />Norway (24:19.7), with Nils-Erik Ulset, Hakon Olsrud, and Eirik Bye and guide Arvid Nelson, finished second. Canada (24:53.4) won bronze through Brian McKeever and guide Graham Nishikawa, Emily Young and Mark Arendz.<br /><br />“We love this race and it is nice to have won it,” said Clarion.<br /><br />The competition at Finsterau 2017 will continue on Thursday (16 February) with the long distance cross-country.<br /><br />Live results and coverage from the 2017 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships are available at Finsterau2017.com.<br /><br />Right free pictures for editorial use are available for download at Flickr.<br /><br />Broadcast quality race footage will also available on request by contacting sascha.beck@paralympic.org.<br /><br />The competition can also be followed on Facebook.com/ParaNordic, Twitter and Instagram (@ParaNordic).
