Benjamin Daviet launched his season in style as he secured five wins at the first World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup in Canmore, Canada, between 9 and 17 December, as the best athletes assess themselves ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.
The World Cup featured biathlon individual, sprint and pursuit, and cross-country sprint, middle and long distance races across all male and female categories.
Sochi 2014 bronze medallist Daviet was the fastest in both the men’s cross-country sprint and middle distance standing events, before going on to top the podium in the biathlon individual, sprint and pursuit, to win France’s five golds in Canmore.
Rushan Minnegulov, competing as a neutral athlete*, ended first in the cross-country long distance, the remaining race in the standing category.
In the women’s equivalent, neutral athlete Ekaterina Rumyantseva performed a clean sweep across all biathlon and cross-country races.
The 26-year-old took up skiing after watching the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics and has rapidly become a strong candidate for gold at PyeongChang 2018. “If you want to achieve anything, you should try till the end,” she said.
Another athlete who enjoyed success in Canmore was the USA’s Oksana Masters, who swept all the women’s biathlon sitting races despite missing seven shots on the range in the pursuit.
“I definitely started sweating when I started missing more than I wanted to,” she said. “But I had great skis. Every time I missed on the range, I had a little more motivation to let it out on snow. It worked out.”
Germany’s Andrea Eskau prevailed in the women’s cross-country sitting, winning all three races. “It was a very good victory,” Eskau said after the long distance race. “It was even a good time between me and second place. It was very comfortable.”
Neutral athlete Ivan Golubkov showed superb form in the men’s cross-country and biathlon sitting races, winning them all. As Masters, Golubkov also struggled in the shooting range but made it up with fast skiing.
“It was windy,” he said. “The misses were always the same. I just need to be smarter to fix it.”
Four-time Paralympic champion Mikhalina Lysova, competing as a neutral athlete and guided by Alexey Ivanov, shone in the women’s cross-country and biathlon visually impaired races, taking five golds out of six.
Fellow neutral athlete Elena Remizova and guide Andrei Tokarev prevented her from winning all races, though, as she beat her in the cross-country long distance.
In the men’s visually impaired, neutral athlete Stanislav Chokhlaev, guided by Oleg Kolodiichuk, swept all biathlon races and also emerged as triumphant in the cross-country middle distance.
Another neutral athlete - Oleg Ponomarev - and guide Andrei Romanov sealed gold in the remaining two cross-country races.
Complete results from Canmore are available on World Para Nordic Skiing’s website. https://www.paralympic.org/nordic-skiing/live-results/info-live-results/ns1d17/eng/zz/engzz_general-general-schedule.htm
The next World Cup takes place in Oberried, Germany from 20-28 January, with the Finals taking place in Vuokatti, Finland, between 2 and 10 February.
*Editor's note: The International Paralympic Committee suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee on 7 August 2016 for its inability to fulfil its IPC membership responsibilities and obligations, in particular its obligation to comply with the IPC Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code (to which it is also a signatory). As a result of the suspension, Russian athletes cannot enter IPC sanctioned events or competitions, including the Paralympic Games. On 6 September 2017, the IPC put in place a limited interim measure for athletes to compete as neutrals in qualification events across four World Para sports for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. These sports are alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country and snowboard. For further information please click here. https://www.paralympic.org/russian-paralympic-committee-suspension
