TOBLACH, Italy — After cancelled events in Poland last week the Nordic Skiing system finally got underway this weekend in Toblach.
The United States came away with four wins in the 10km classical events. Jake Adicoff (Guide: Jake Brown) won the men’s vision impaired double, finishing in a time of 30:37.9 in the time trial, just clear of Zebasitian Modin (SWE, Guide: Emil Joensson) who had a factored time of 30:53.4. Thursday’s finish was even closer, a one second win for Adicoff in the mass start, Modin just couldn’t close the gap.
The other US golds were won by a familiar face, Oksana Masters, finishing just 20 seconds clear of teammate Kendall Gretsch to win the women’s sitting races both days.
North America wasn’t done with medals in the 10km classical races there; CanadianMark Arendz claimed the men’s standing race finishing almost one minute ahead of his nearest rival. His was the only win that wasn’t repeated in the mass start race, swapping second place with Japanese skier Taiki Kawayoke.
His teammate Brittany Hudak medaled in the women’s standing interval start, finishing a distant second to Norwegian great Vilde Nilsen before finishing third in the mass-start which was again won by Nilsen.
The hosts had something to cheer about in the men’s sitting which was claimed by Giuseppe Romele who beat out Ukrainian Pavlo Bal twice. This race saw more medals the Canadians with Derek Zaplotinsky claiming bronze in both races.
Germany dominated the women’s vision impaired races with Linn Kazmaier (Guide: Florian Baumann) finishing well in front of her teammate Leonie Maria Walter (Guide: Christian Krasman) to win both races.
Sundays saw the event switch to freestyle after the sprit races were cancelled. It opened with another home gold for Romele to sweep the men’s sitting classification. This time it was Brazilian Cristian Westemaier Barrera who finished second, relegating Bal to bronze.
Masters also completed her sweep, again beating teammate Gretsch, by just five seconds, as the two set a marker for the rest of the field to try and catch next week in Martell.
The men’s standing saw a drastically different result on Sunday with German Marco Meier claiming gold with Arendz not starting the race. Serheii Romaniuk (UKR) finished in second just seven seconds back. Nilsen completed her sweep of the women’s standing events easily, more than a minute ahead of Ukrainian duo Oleksandra Kononova and Liudmyla Liashenko.
Adicoff completed his sweep of the men’s vision impaired races, putting the Americans top of the medal table with six. The German domination of the women’s standing was broken in the freestyle race when Simona Bubenickova (CZE) claimed the gold by seven seconds from Kazmaier.
BONN, Germany – On Wednesday, four winter sports governed by the International Paralympic Committee have transferred to new governing organizations. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has taken over Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing and Snowboarding. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) will take over Biathlon.
The new governance means that the two Nordic disciplines of cross-country and biathlon will be split into different organizations for the first time. That may create some difficult choices for the athletes competing in the sports; athletes have competed in both previously. However, the IPC has said that the IBU and FIS will work cooperatively.
Both organizations almost unanimously approved support for sports transferring to the FIS. The IPC Governing Board was unanimous, while 94 percent of FIS board members agreed.
“To have an overwhelming majority of FIS members vote in favour of this transfer of governance underlines the extremely strong appetite FIS has to develop and grow the three Para snow sports.”
IPC President Andrew Parsons
From the FIS perspective, they see this unification of the para disciplines within their sports as an opportunity to create more development in the sport. Using the big arm they have will improve growth.
Biathlon will be managed by the IBU but with a joint steering committee with FIS. This will allow the two organizations to come together on schedule. This will prevent the athletes competing in cross-country skiing and biathlon from choosing and will create a combined plan.
That may prevent para biathletes from having the stage of the IBU biathlon events, with FIS likely to push for the events to run with the cross-country world cup events.
The most significant change that will come with the transfers is the ability to have more competition below the world cup level. Currently, the IPC only runs a world cup and only a small handful of events. FIS and IBU can stage a para event with all their current events.
All photos courtesy International Paralympic Committee
BONN, Germany and OBERHOFEN AM THUERSEE, Switzerland – Four sports are run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) under the Para Snow Sports umbrella. The IPC would like to transfer the governance of these sports and on Tuesday announced discussions with the International Ski Federation (FIS) to do so for three sports.
The two organizations began discussions during the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games to discuss the future of the three sports. The IPC would like to transfer the governance of alpine skiing, cross country skiing and snowboarding to FIS.
As a result of those discussions, FIS was granted preferred status in negotiations for the transfer of sports governance.
“The discussions held in Beijing show that the IPC and FIS share a common vision about the future of the Para snow sports. Since the announcement of the managed process for the World Para Sports to become independent from the IPC, we have said that this decision had as a main objective the continued development and growth of the sports. We believe that this can be achieved together with FIS and will continue our conversations on the next steps to be taken in this process.”
IPC President Andrew Parsons
Parson’s statement shows that this is just the start of a process of IPC devolving itself of the management of all the sports that it is currently managing.
The two organizations have worked together before, including FIS officials being used at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games. In addition, those games were held on FIS Homologated courses, meaning they’re up to the standards that FIS events are usually held on.
“It was a big step for both FIS and the IPC to hold these important discussions. Many of our National Ski Associations already have the Para snow sports under their umbrella and it is the clear next step to bring the governance of these sports under the FIS umbrella. We look forward to taking the next steps in order to be ready to welcome the Para disciplines and their athletes to the FIS Family.”
FIS President Johan Eliasch
That would leave one snow sport under the auspices of Para Snow Sports, biathlon, which is currently lumped in with cross-country in Nordic skiing. Non-Para biathlon is managed by the International Biathlon Union (IBU), so they would be the most likely to take over the sport. Still, there has not been an announcement yet.
BEIJING – The United States had two big wins on the final day of competition at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games on Sunday to make it a good finish for the team.
The Americans’ dominance of ice hockey continued with a fourth consecutive gold medal. The USA beat Canada 4-0 in a final the country dominated from the opening minutes.
Canada had moments where the side looked threatening. Still, their North American rivals always held a measure of control.
Early in the first period Liam Hickey rushed the American net, but Jen Lee was at his best to keep the Canadian off the score sheet. That allowed him to launch a counter which gave Declan Farmer a chance to score, which he took.
That would begin the flood of goals as the United States continued its dominance of the sport for over a decade. Canada will be concerned about the looming Chinese threat; the hosts finished third here and are aiming to be in the top tier with the North Americans.
Pedersen wins fourth gold
Jesper Pedersen (NOR) sealed being the most successful athlete in Beijing as he won four gold medals. He clinched his fourth in Sunday’s men’s sitting slalom.
It was a dominant performance from Pedersen, who claimed the win six seconds ahead of silver medal winner Niels de Langen (NED).
“I exceeded all expectations. Of course, this is what I’ve been dreaming of for the last couple of years. Still, to be able to have such good events here and in Hafjell [2022 World Championships] as well, it’s been just amazing for me,” said 22-year-old Pedersen. “I’m just so happy, and now I’m ready to go home and take a well-deserved rest.”
Arthur Bauchet (FRA) was only one gold medal behind the Norwegian as he won his third gold medal in the men’s standing.
One more gold medal behind was Italian Giacomo Bertagnolli (guide: Andrea Ravelli), who will go into his home Olympic Games in four years as a great success. He won the men’s vision impaired in an entertaining race.
Relay gold makes Masters most decorated woman in Beijing
Oksana Masters (USA) clinched her third gold medal of these Games as she was part of the victorious United States cross country mixed relay team.
With Daniel Cnossen and Sydney Peters, Masters handed off to Jake Adicoff (guide: Sam Wood) for the final leg behind the Chinese. Adicoff powered away and claimed the gold medal 26 seconds ahead of the hosts to cap it for the Americans.
Ukraine had one more gold medal to win, and it was an emotional win in the open relay. Grygorii Vochysnkyi led the team of Vasyl Kravchuk, Dmytro Suiarko and Anatolii Kovalevskyi (guide: Oleksandr Mukshyn).
Needing to come from fourth place, Kovalevskyi and Mukshyn pushed and overhauled the three in front of them to take an emotional gold medal.
“This win today means Ukraine is like five fingers (one fist),” Vovchynskyi said. “It means Ukraine, the whole country, is like one person. Today our whole winning team is like one guy. Everyone supports each other, like in Ukraine now. This is like a union of all the Ukrainian people here. On this podium will be all of Ukraine together.”
BEIJING – After shocking the world four years ago, China defended its curling title at Beijing 2022 with an impressive come from behind victory in the final.
The first end was a blank end, which gave China the hammer in the second, but the hosts could only manage a single. That would be the same fate that would befall Sweden in the third end.
The Ice Cube was silenced in the fourth end when Wang Haitao overhit his takeout, watching it roll out of the house. That allowed Sweden to steal a single as the stone that wasn’t taken out was just clipping the outside edge of the 12 foot.
OIS/Bob Martin
China came back, scoring four in the fifth to take the lead; the weight of the draws was perfect, despite Wang making his final draw too light to miss out on taking five.
With the hammer in the sixth, Sweden couldn’t make it count. Some great defensive play from China forced the Swedes to settle for a single.
That gave China the hammer in the penultimate end, which was ended by two mistakes from the final curlers. That handed China another three counters, and Sweden conceded defeat 8-3.
“Four years ago we didn’t have too much pressure, but today we were playing at home, so it just put us under a lot of pressure, but luckily, we made it.”
Wang Haitao
Aigner family keeps claiming medals
OIS/Joel Marklund
After winning two medals yesterday, the Aigner family from Austria did it again. It was a one-two finish in the women’s visual impaired slalom.
Veronika claimed gold again, guided by sister Elizabeth and was followed by Barbara. The latter went up to a silver medal with her guide Klara Sykora.
Ebba Aarsjoe (SWE) also won her second gold medal of these Games, returning from an injury in the giant slalom yesterday to win the women’s standing.
The other Paralympic Champion of the day was Anna-Lena Forster (GER), who successfully defended her title from PyeongChang, winning her second gold medal in Beijing 2022.
McKeever equals record
In his final Paralympic Games, Brian McKeever (CAN) equaled the record of Gerd Schoenfelder to become the most decorated male Winter Paralympian of all time. His third gold medal of these Games gave him his 16th overall to equal Schoenfelder’s mark.
“To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t mean a damn thing,” he said, laughing. “It’s never been about any of it. It has always been about enjoying the process, and I love representing the country. We love getting lost in the mountains, then come home after 10 hours slogging and suffering… then, look at the picture later and say, that was fun. If records happen to come, it will come. Trying to do what you know to do best is what mattered to me all through my career.”
With Graham Nishikawa guiding him, McKeever won gold in the men’s vision impaired middle distance cross country to get the record. On the final day of the games on Sunday, he could break the record in the team relays.
There was an upset in the men’s standing as Benjamin Daviet (FRA) couldn’t win his third gold of the games, stunned by Wang Chenyang (CHN). When the results came out, Wang only won the race by 1.4 seconds; it was a close finish.
China also took gold in the men’s sitting with Mao Zhongwu leading home Zeng Peng for a one-two for the hosts. Giuseppe Romele (ITA) joined the pair on the podium.
There was a third gold for China in the women’s sitting when Yang Hongqiong Yang relegated Oksana Masters (USA) to her third silver medal.
Ukraine’s stellar Paralympics continued in the women’s standing when Oleksandra Kononova won her first gold medal in 12 years.
“I feel super happy, and I dedicate this medal to my country, Kononova said. “I felt really proud of myself, about my country who raised me and gave me everything to perform here at such a high level. I thought about my family.”
15-year-old superstar Linn Kazmaier won her first Paralympic gold medal, completing the entire set as she won the women’s visual impaired with guide Florian Baumann.
China wins ice hockey bronze in Paralympic debut
It took just five years for China to go from having no para ice hockey team to having a Paralympic medal-winning squad.
China’s speed has been on display all tournament, and they were too quick for South Korea as the hosts cruised to a 4-0 win to claim bronze.
Wang Zhidong scored five goals for the tournament when he scored the opener before Shen Yifeng stole possession in the offensive third. He then rounded the goalie and was left with a simple finish to make it 2-0 early in the second period.
Shen would back up and wrap up the match after serving 14 penalty minutes. The Koreans left the net empty to chase the game leaving Shen with an open shot to all but seal him the goalscoring crown.
BEIJING – It was a perfect finish to the individual biathlon for Ukraine at Beijing 2022 with the team claiming three gold medals.
Ukraine won eight gold, nine silver and five bronze medals at these Paralympic Games all from individual biathlon to seal the best ever performance in the sport.
Friday’s success began with Liudmyla Liashenko who claimed her first individual title by winning the women’s standing. She dominated the race from start to finish and easily claimed her long-awaited gold medal.
“It was a really long wait for me to get this gold medal. I’ve been to a lot of trainings and won a lot of gold medals in World Cups and World Championships over the past seasons. I was sure that my gold was waiting for me at these Paralympic Games and I am really happy and proud to be a Paralympic champion.”
Liudmyla Liashenko
That win was followed up by a second gold for Oksana Shyshkova (guide: Andriy Marchenko) in the women’s vision impaired. She held off a rush at the death from German pair Linn Kazmier (guide: Florian Baumann) and Leonie Maria Walter (guide: Pirmin Strecker) to win the race.
It was a sweep of the vision impaired events for Ukraine as Oleksandr Kazik (guide: Serhii Kucheriavyi) claimed men’s gold medal ahead of teammate Vitalii Lukianenko (guide: Borys Babar). China continued its good Games as Shuang Yu (guide: Wang Guanyu) claimed bronze.
Photo: OIS/Chloe Knott
Benjamin Daviet (FRA) backed up from winning a gold medal earlier in the Games as he claimed the gold in the men’s standing. That saw another medal for Ukraine with Grygorii Vovchynskyi claiming the bronze medal, the pair were joined on the podium by Mark Arendz (CAN).
A perfectly paced race by Oksana Masters (USA) overcome her teammate Kendall Gretsch in the final 2.5km to claim gold in the women’s sitting. It was her second gold medal of the games with China adding another medal through Yilin Shan.
China got another gold medal in the men’s standing through Liu Mengtao who controlled the whole race. He was joined on the podium by a teammate as Zixu Liu came third, while silver was another one for Ukraine through Taras Rad.
Aiger family dominates alpine skiing
Austrian sisters, the Aigers, had a big day on the alpine skiing slopes taking home three medals in the women’s vision impaired giant slalom.
Veronika, guided by Elisabeth took home the gold medal while their sister Barbara claimed the bronze medal with her guide Klara Sykora.
Momoka Muraoka (JPN) claimed her third gold medal as she won the women’s standing yet again. A rapid second run, seven seconds faster than the rest of the field, saw her claim the gold medal. She led two Chinese athletes in Liu Sitong and Zhang Wenjing.
China managed one more gold in the alpine events with Zhang Mengqiu transitioning successfully from speed to technical events in the women’s sitting. She won both runs, pushing Mollie Jepsen (CAN) to second with Andrea Rothfuss (GER).
China continues to dominate snowboarding
Photo: OIS/Thomas Lovelock
The Chinese gold rush continued on the snowboarding slopes as the hosts claimed three gold medals in the banked snowboard slalom.
It was a sweep of the men’s lower limb classifications for China as Wu Zhongwei won the SB-LL1 and Sun Qi won the SB-LL2.
Wu was dominant in the SB-LL1 winning both runs to cruise to victory ahead of Chris Vos (NED) who recovered from his disappointing snowboard cross final. In third place was the snowboard cross champion, Tyler Turner (CAN).
Sun was measured to claim gold, stunning world champion Matti Suur Hamari (FIN). There was history on the lowest step of the podium as Ollie Hall won the first snowboard Paralympic medal for Great Britain.
Another one looking to make up for disappointment in snowboard cross was Maxime Montaggioni (FRA) in the men’s SB-UL. It was a tight race after one run with Ji Lijia (CHN) leading Montaggioni by 0.01 seconds. The second run was a bigger difference with Montaggioni winning by 0.46 to claim the gold medal.
Ji said: “That’s like a finger’s distance. It’s OK.”
Brenna Huckaby (USA) received vindication by winning gold in the women’s banked slalom SB-LL2. Usually a competitor in the higher impairment SB-LL1, Huckaby won a lawsuit to compete up in the lower impairment category. That proved very worth it as she came back from second place in the first run to power past the Chinese pair of Geng Yanhong and Li Tiantian.
2018 rematch set in ice hockey final
Two lopsided semifinals set up a rematch of the 2018 ice hockey final as Canada and the USA both managed 11-0 wins to advance.
Canada managed the result against South Korea while the USA was surprisingly emphatic against the previously undefeated Chinese.
The two North Americans will meet for the second time in this tournament in the final. The previous match was won by the USA 5-0.
The only other game of the day was the fifth-place playoff, which Italy won. The Italians beat the Czech Republic in a thriller, 4-3.
China and Sweden win curling semifinals
China will defend its curling title after backing up to win the semifinal over Canada, they will take on Sweden in the battle for gold after the surprise package continued its good results.
It was a comfortable win for China, getting past Canada 9-5, firmly showing that dominance of the sport has shifted east.
Sweden guaranteed its best finish with a thrilling 6-4 win over Slovakia. Trailing coming into the 6th end, Sweden knew it needed to work and picked up a point. The Swedes picked up a point in each of the last three ends to take the win.
That moved the two losers into the bronze medal game and Canada emerged victorious. A stunning take out from Jon Thurston with the final draw of the game saw Canada claim four points and an 8-3 win for its second straight bronze medal.
BEIJING – It was a diverse day on the cross country course but one country did especially well. The hosts managed two gold medals on a busy day at Beijing 2022.
China swept the two sitting events in the cross country sprint events. It was a perfect repeat of the long distance races with Zheng Peng winning the men’s and Yang Hongqiong claiming the women’s. That women’s race was especially tight with Oksana Masters (USA) finishing in second place by just 1.7 seconds.
“I’m not sure about any tactics, but because all the fans outside have been cheering for us, the rhythm they’ve been giving us is really great.”
Zheng Peng
Carina Edlinger (AUT) (guide: Josef Lorenz Lampl) was perhaps the star of the day as she won the women’s vision impaired race. After just missing the medals four years ago she focused on winning this event for the past four years but struggled at the world championships. She dominated the field, beating Oksana Shyshkova (UKR) by seven seconds.
Brian McKeever (CAN) (guide: Russell Kennedy) claimed his 14th gold medal to close in on the record. He won the men’s visual impaired race, edging out Jake Adicoff (USA) in a tight finish, the pair separated by 0.8 seconds.
“This is the race that is hardest for us to win. My least favourite race,” McKeever said. “I said yesterday that I think I would rather race a 220km in Sweden next month than do another sprint, but here we are. It was fun.”
Benjamin Daviet (FRA) won his first individual title in his third Paralympic Games as he won the men’s standing. The times set by the fastest racers were very quick with Daviet having to push hard to claim gold ahead of Marco Maier (GER) by just 1.3 seconds.
Three youngsters took the medals in the women’s standing. Natalie Wilkie (CAN) claimed her second gold of the games with a late push to overcome Vilde Nilsen (NOR).
Asian Sides Join North Americans in Ice Hockey Semis
China faced a tough test in ice hockey for the first time but came through with flying colors to advance to the semifinals. A quick game with a brace to Zhidong Wang saw China manage a 4-3 win over the Czech Republic. The difficulty will ramp up again in the next round when they take on defending champions, the USA.
The Czech Republic came back from 3-1 down to level the scores but Wang won the match with less than two minutes to play.
South Korea also won through to the semifinals with a comfortable 4-0 win over Italy. That set up a semifinal with Canada, which would be a historic win.
China goes top in Curling
Defending curling champions, China, are on top of the standings in curling following a 7-5 win over Slovakia and a 7-4 win over Norway. That allowed China to take advantage of a slip from Sweden who now shares the lead with China. Sweden also beat Norway, 8-6 but couldn’t repeat China’s result against Slovakia, falling to a 6-5 loss.
BEIJING – Ukraine managed two podium sweeps as the embattled nation continued its dominance in Biathlon keeping the team in second place in the Beijing 2022 medal tally.
Vitalii Lukianenko (guide: Borys Babar) backed up from his sprint gold medal to claim another in the men’s visually impaired middle-distance biathlon. Just like on Sunday he led two teammates onto the podium with Oleksandr Mukshyn claiming silver and Oleksandr Nikonovych bronze.
Iryna Bui continued her Paralympic progression finally breaking through for her first gold medal in the women’s sitting. She finished a frustrating fourth place four years ago. There were three Ukrainian flags raised at the medal ceremony as Oleksandra Kononova came in behind her and Liudmyla Liashenko repeated her third-place finish from four years ago.
Photo: OIS/Thomas Lovelock
There was another first biathlon gold as Leonie Maria Walter (GER) (guide: Pirmin Strecker) stunned Ukrainian Oksana Shyshkova (guide: Andriy Marchenko) in the women’s visually impaired. Dropping two shots cost Shyshkova who just ran out of course to close down Walter.
The women’s sitting saw an American one-two with the order reversed from the sprint race on Sunday. Kendell Gretsch was able to get past her teammate Oksana Masters and get the gold medal, relegating Masters to second.
China’s stunning home Games continued in the men’s standing when Liu Mengtao as his skiing proved enough to overcome missing three shots.
“My skiing was fine today, but the shots, not that good. I tried my best, so I am satisfied. I want the Chinese flag to rise to the highest tip. That’s where I got the motivation.”
Liu Mengtao
Mark Arendz (CAN) upgraded to gold after finishing third in the last two Paralympic Games. He used his perfect shooting to claim the win, pulling away from Grygorii Vovchynskyi (UKR) who claimed silver after missing a shot.
Canada secures passage to ice hockey semi-finals
Canada powered through to the ice hockey semi-finals with a comfortable 6-0 victory over South Korea in the final group stage match. James Dunn starred scoring a hattrick to give his team the ticket to skip the quarter-final.
There was a virtual qualifier in Group B as the Czech Republic played Slovakia with a win required to advance. The Czech Republic claimed passage to the quarters with a 3-0 win which also dragged Italy through to the knock-out stages.
The Italians will now play South Korea and the Czech Republic will play China for a shot at the medal rounds.
The USA and Canada, by finishing first and second in Group A advanced straight to the semifinals.
Sweden leads close field in curling
Sweden is top of the standings in curling following two wins on Tuesday beating Estonia 6-4 and Great Britain 6-4 as the competition reached the halfway stage.
Slovakia continued its impressive performance with two wins to jump to second, first defeating Slovakia 7-2 and then stunning the Canadians in a thriller 9-8. China joins Slovakia on second thanks to a comfortable 10-2 win over the United States.
Canada was pushed down to fourth with that loss, Norway jumped up to fourth with wins over Switzerland (8-5) and Latvia (8-6). The Latvian’s incredible debut was only knocked slightly by that loss keeping the Baltic side in fourth place.
BEIJING – Canada lifted up to third place on the medal tally after its strongest day at Beijing 2022. A record-breaking performance from Brian McKeever was a particular highlight.
McKeever (guide: Graham Kennedy) won his 14th Paralympic Games gold medal in his favorite event, the men’s vision impaired long-distance cross country.
“I’m still hungry. I still love training every day. When we are out there, we are still competing against each other on the training sessions.”
Brian McKeever
Jake Adicoff (USA) (guide: Sam Wood) might be the one to take over McKeever’s throne as he finished in a close second place. Zebastian Modin (SUI) (guide: Emil Joensson Haag) was behind the two North Americans to take bronze.
Canada’s good day continued in the women’s standing which was claimed by Natalie Wilkie who was joined on the podium by teammate Brittany Hudak who claimed the bronze medal. Splitting the pair was American Sydney Peterson.
Oksana Shyshkova (UKR) (guide: Andriy Marchenko) repeated her opening day heroics as she claimed gold in the women’s vision impaired and is looking to control the classification.
“I think I will realize my great achievement here after everything ends and I get home, but all our medals that our team win here we dedicate to Ukraine and to every citizen of Ukraine,” Shyshkova said.
In comparison to McKeever Taiki Kawayoke (JPN) claimed his maiden gold medal claiming the men’s standing, finishing 90 seconds clear of the field.
Canadian history continues in snowboard
Photo: OIS/Thomas Lovelock
History continued for the Canadian team on the snowboard slope as Lisa Dejong claimed her country’s first medal in the sport, winning the women’s snowboard-cross SB-LL2. Cecile Hernandez (FRA) claimed gold, the pair upsetting American Brenna Huckaby.
Things got better for Canada in the men’s SB-LL1 as Tyler Turner backed up his world championship finishing ahead of defending champion Mike Schultz (USA).
“This is crazy. Four years ago I didn’t even think I’d snowboard, and now standing on top of the podium, it’s unbelievable.”
Tyler Turner
It was an all-Chinese final in the men’s SB-UL which shocked the sport after Maxime Montaggioni was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Ji Lija claimed the gold medal ahead of Wang Pengayo and Zhu Yonggang.
Matti Suur-Hamari (FIN) defended his title in the men’s SB-LL2 with two first-time medalists behind him. Garret Geros (USA) finished in second while Ben Tudhope (AUS) completed the podium.
Big comeback sees Forster claim combined gold
Photo: OIS/Simon Bruty
After being disappointed to miss out on the downhill and super-G, Anna Lena-Forster (GER) claimed the gold medal in the women’s sitting super combined.
Coming fourth in the super-G, Forster had to overcome an almost 10-second deficit to claim the gold medal but was rapid in the slalom to win it. The gold ended Momoka Muraoka’s (JPN) hope of sweeping the classification as she was forced to settle for second.
There was another comeback in the women’s standing as Ebba Aarsjoe (SWE) who came back from three seconds back in the super-G to claim the gold medal thanks to a great run in the slalom. That relegated Zhang Mengqui (CHN) to the silver medal.
Jesper Pederson (NOR) claimed his second gold medal in as many days as he won the men’s sitting. The Dutch pair of Jeroen Kampschreur and Nils de Langen rounded out the podium.
After finally breaking through for his first Paralympic title Arthur Bauchet doubled up as he won the men’s standing. Santeri Kiiveri (FIN) claimed his country’s first alpine Paralympic medal finishing in second while Adam Hall (NZL) finished third.
Henrieta Farkasova (SVK) (guide: Michal Cerven) claimed yet another gold medal, her 11th. A stunning slalom run pushed her past Zhu Daqing (CHN) (guide: Yan Hanhan). The men’s race was won by Giacomo Bertagnolli (ITA) (guide: Andrea Ravelli).
Baltics claim first curling wins
Photo: OIS/Bob Martin
It was a historic day for Estonia and Latvia as both managed their first Paralympic curling wins. Estonia came out victorious in the Baltic derby before stunning the defending silver medalists Norway. In Latvia’s second game they shocked the world championship silver medalists Sweden to get on the board.
China had its best day of the Bonspiel so far, winning both of its games today. The hosts beat South Korea 9-4 and Switzerland 7-4 to secure a 3-3 record.
Canada fell for the first time of the tournament as Sweden stunned the defending champions 6-3 in the morning session.
BEIJING – It was an emotional moment on the biathlon field as Ukraine managed to sweep the men’s vision impaired sprint biathlon to open the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.
Vitalii Lukianenko (guide: Borys Babar) took gold in his first Paralympic Games, leading home a pair of compatriots. Oleksandr Kazik (guide: Serhii Kucherriayvi) managed a stunning comeback. After missing a shot, he used his speed to claim silver. By comparison, clean shooting saw Dmytro Suiarko (guide: Oleksandr Nikonovych) claim bronze.
The good results for Ukraine continued, picking up two more gold medals. Oksana Shsyshkova (guide: Andriy Marchenko) finally got the gold medal that had been eluding her in the women’s vision impaired sprint biathlon.
“When I entered the start, all thoughts were only about my family, my relatives, everybody who is in Ukraine,” Shyshkova said. “My race, my victory, is dedicated to them.”
The men’s standing was claimed by Grigorii Vovchynski, who completed Ukraine’s haul of medals, putting his country on top of the medal tally at the end of the first day.
China wins more medals on day one than all Winter Paralympics combined
Zixu Liu racing in the men’s sitting Biathlon (Photo: OIS/Thomas Lovelock)
Coming into Beijing 2022, the hosts had only won one medal in the Winter Paralympic Games, but in one day, they lifted that total to eight.
Two of those were gold medals from the biathlon field as Zixu Liu and Yujie Guo; Liu claimed the men’s sitting title while Guo won the women’s standing.
Guo was joined on the podium by compatriot Zhiqing Zhao, the pair sandwiched by another Ukrainian, Liudmyla Liashenko.
The combination of countries was the same in Liu’s event, with Ukraine’s Taras Rad separating the Chinese pair as Mengtao Liu took bronze.
There was history in the only event not won by Ukraine or China. Oksana Masters became the first person to win a winter and summer Paralympic gold in the same 12 months since the two events were staged in different years. Masters made up for her error from four years ago and managed her first clean shoot of the season to claim the women’s sitting gold medal. She was joined on the podium by compatriot, and fellow Tokyo gold medalist, Kendell Gretsch. At the same time, China’s Yilin Shan won the silver medal.
“I owe a lot to my mom and then it is for Team Ukraine and Ukrainian people. It is as much for Team USA as it is for Ukraine. I’m so proud to be Ukrainian, to be American and represent both and that’s the power of sports that you can represent so much more than just one thing.”
Oksana Masters
Henrieta Farkasova continues domination
Henrieta Farkasova celebrates after her ski in the women’s visual impaired downhill
Undefeated in eight years, Henrieta Farkasova (SVK) (guide: Martin Motyka) showed little signs of stopping in Beijing. She claimed her 10th Paralympic gold medal in the women’s visual impaired downhill.
China claimed more medals, taking silver through Daqing Zhu (guide: Hanhan Yan), while Great Britain got off to a good start with Millie Knight (guide: Brett Wild) claiming bronze.
It was a diverse collection of gold medalists in the downhill, most notably in the men’s vision impaired which was won by 16-year-old Johannes Aiger (guide: Matteo Fleischmann) in the first downhill race the pair had ever completed. It was a close race as Aiger’s time was only 0.36 seconds clear of defending champion Mac Marcoux (CAN) (Guide: Tristan Rodgers).
“The feeling is indescribable. It was my first downhill race, and I am very happy. Unbelievable,” Aigner said. “We have never raced downhill before, just a few training days. I don’t think we realize what we have done at the moment,” Fleischmann concluded.
Women’s sitting saw two medals for Asia with gold to Japan‘s Momoka Muraoka, who stunned world champion Anna-Lena Forster (GER). China claimed yet another medal through Siton Liu’s bronze.
Three athletes claimed their first Paralympic gold medals. The most notable among them was Arthur Bauchet (FRA), who has come so close so often in the men’s standing. Another first-time Paralympic champion, Mollie Jepsen (CAN), claimed the women’s event.
The biggest shock of the day came in the men’s sitting when Corey Peters (NZL) stunned the world with an incredible time to claim the gold medal. Peters was nearly horizontal on parts of the course which allowed him to get fantastic speed to claim gold.
China’s banner day continues in ice hockey
Shen Yifeng scores his third goal for China
Expectations were high for the Chinese ice hockey team. After a stunning performance in the Division 2 World Championship, there were thoughts that China could deliver on the big stage. The hosts certainly lived up to that expectation with a dominant 7-0 win over fellow debutants Slovakia.
Shen Yifeng starred for the speedy Chinese team, scoring four goals and being all over the ice through the 45 minutes.
💥THE RECORD BREAKER💥
Declan Farmer scored once and assisted for 3⃣ more goals vs Canada 🇨🇦 to enter the record books.
The other two matches were also shutouts. In a replay of the 2018 gold medal match, the USA showed its strength beating regional rivals Canada 5-0. That would be the same scoreline in the other match as the Czech Republic beat Italy 5-0 on the back of a 3-0 first period.
Curling revenge for Canada
Canada in action in the first Curling session at Beijing 2022
After being stunned by China in the 2018 semi-final, there was excitement around the curling bonspiel opening match between Canada and China. This time Canada came through strongly and got a measure of revenge over the defending champions with a 7-3 win.
In the afternoon session, Canada would back that up, claiming an 8-4 win over Switzerland to put the team in a commanding position.
Norway won a thriller in the opening session, showing their medal credentials using a solid start to beat Great Britain 7-5. Great Britain would recover and manage a big win over the USA 10-6, completing a rough day for the Americans. They gave up too much early against Slovakia, who beat them 9-3 in the opening session.
After the first two ends, Sweden took a 4-0 lead and never looked back, claiming a 9-2 win over Switzerland.
There was little expectation for Latvia, barely able to play in the pandemic era, facing an experienced South Korean side. Still, the Baltic side showed up the form book. Latvia claimed a win in its Paralympic debut, beating the Koreans 8-4.
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