Russian athletes showed they will be the ones to beat at next year's<br />Paralympic Winter Games winning half of the medals on the first day of<br />competition at the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup Finals in Sochi, Russia.<br /><br /><br /><br />Taking place at "Laura", the Cross-country and Biathlon Centre which is<br />located on the crest of the Psekhako Ridge to the northwest of the Rosa<br />Khutor Alpine Resort, Russian athletes won nine out of the 18 medals<br />available in Sunday's six cross-country sprint events.<br /><br /><br /><br />Under heavy fog, which made visibility difficult for athletes and<br />spectators, the first event of the day was the men's sit-ski race over<br />0.8km. Despite four of the six finalists representing Russia, the home<br />athletes did not have it their own way. In a thrilling sprint, the race<br />was won by Ukraine's 23 year old Maksym Yarovyi (1:48.9), silver went<br />to Russia's world bronze medallist Gregory Murygin (2:19.5), whilst<br />bronze was won by Norway's Trygve Steinar Larsen (2:23.9).<br /><br /><br /><br />Germany's Andrea Eskau (2:44.7), a winner of the middle and long<br />distance cross-country world titles at the recent World Championships<br />in Solleftea was the winner of the women's sit-ski sprint. She finished<br />ahead of Norway's world sprint bronze medallist Mariann Marthinsen<br />(2:53.4) in silver and Italy's Paralympic cross-country sprint champion<br />from 2010, Francesca Porcellato (2:45.3) in bronze.<br /><br /><br /><br />Brian McKeever of Canada showed he will be reluctant to give up the<br />Paralympic cross-country sprint title he won in Vancouver in 2010, by<br />winning the men's visually impaired class over 1.5km together with his<br />guide Erik Carleton (3:55.3). Russia took the other medals thanks to<br />Stanislav Chokhlaev and guide Maxim Pirogov (4:01.5) who finished<br />second ahead of Aleksei Toropov and guide Evgenii Fatkhullin (4:05.6)<br />in third.<br /><br /><br /><br />After not winning gold in the first three races, Russian athletes more<br />than made up for it in the women's visually impaired class, taking home<br />all three medals.<br /><br /><br /><br />It was fitting that the winner of Russia's first gold in the Sochi test<br />event was 20 year old Mikhalina Lysova who won five world titles<br />earlier this month. She and her guide Alexey Ivanov finished in 4:16.8,<br />ahead of teammate Elena Remizova and her guide Natalia Yakimova<br />(4:19.8) in silver. Bronze went to Iuliia Budaleeva and guide Tatyana<br />Maltseva (4:26.6) ensuring a repeat of the podium places from Solleftea.<br /><br /><br /><br />Russia struck gold and silver again in the very next race, this time in<br />the men's standing. Gold went to Kirill Mikhaylov (3:56.20) whilst<br />silver went to world bronze medallist Rushan Minnegulov (3:57.6).<br />Bronze was won by Norway's 22 year old Vegard Dahle (3:58.0), a two<br />time world silver medallist in the event.<br /><br /><br /><br />The final event of the day was the women's standing and saw Russia<br />finish with a hat-trick of gold medals. Top of the podium was Anna<br />Milenina (4:37.3) who finished ahead of the Ukrainian Iuliia Batenkova<br />(4:51.2) and Japan's Shoko Ota (4:54.9) in silver and bronze<br />respectively.<br /><br /><br /><br />Live coverage of each medal event can be found at<br />www.ParalympicSport.TV Monday's (18 March) event will be cross-country<br />long distance, the event that should have taken place on Saturday but<br />was cancelled due to strong winds. Competition and live coverage will<br />start at 08:00 CET<br /><br /><br /><br />Regular updates can also be found at www.twitter.com/IPCNordic and<br />www.facebook.com/IPCNordicSkiing<br /><br /><br /><br />Daily reports of all the action will also be published at<br />www.ipc-nordicskiing.org<br /><br /><br /><br />The Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games will take place between 7-16 March and<br />are set to feature 700 athletes from 45 countries. They will compete in<br />five sports -- alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice sledge<br />hockey and wheelchair curling. Para- snowboard will make its Games<br />debut as part of the alpine skiing programme.
