TERNI, Italy — Friday was a day for team events at the World Wheelchair Fencing Championships and it was China who claimed success winning both events.
The home fans were especially disappointed by the men’s sabre loss which saw Italy defeated by China. It looked like it was going to be a dominant win for the Chinese fencers when Edoardo Giordan coming in to face Yanke Feng 20-2 down. Giordan claimed 21 points to pull Italy back into the contest.
But that was as good as it would get as Chinese fencers Yeng Cheng, Li Hao and Feng pulled away to claim the world title.
The bronze medal match was also a European v Asian battle. This time it was the Europeans that came out as victors. The French team of Ludovic Lemoine, Maxime Valet and Serge Robin claimed victory over India.
China claimed the other team gold of the day with a tighter win in the women’s team epee. Thailand fought hard but fell to a 45-43 scoreline to the defending Paralympic champions.
Xufeng Zou led the team, fresh from claiming the individual world title in the A category, winning all of her bouts. The B category winner, Saysunee Jana, pulled Thailand back into the bout to make it a close finish but couldn’t do enough to overcome the deficit.
France couldn’t get a double bronze as they fell to Hungary in the bronze medal bout, allowing the Hungarians to finish in the same position as four years ago. There were seven lead changes before Hungary finally pulled away through Amarilla Veres to claim a 45-37 win.
Saturday will see competition continue with the women’s foil and men’s epee individual events.
Laurens Devos (BEL) semifinal bound in Pajulahti (Photo: ITTF/Michael Loveder)
PAJULAHTI, Finland — The Finland Para Open table tennis got under way on Friday with the men’s singles events swiftly reaching the knockout rounds ahead of some finals tomorrow.
There were two thrillers in the quarterfinals of the men’s singles class 2. The number one seed Guilherme Marcio Da Costa (BRA) was eliminated in the quarters by Spanish number four seed Daniel Rodriguez, who won the last two gams 11-9, 11-7 to advance. He will meet Jiri Suchanek (CZE) in the semifinal after another 3-2 win in even more dramatic fashion. Suchanek came from two games down winning the last three 11-9, 11-6, 11-9.
The other semifinal will be between Boris Stoiljkovic (SRB) and Iker Sastre (ESP) who won their matches 3-1 and 3-0 respectively.
Class 3 also saw two 3-2 matches. Alexander Ohgren (SWE) advanced, after winning the first he gave up the next two games. That forced him to come back and he did, winning the last two 11-9, 11-8. He will play Florian Merrien (FRA) who has only dropped one game all tournament.
Petr Svatos (CZE) overcame Colin Judge (IRE) 3-2. His win was different, winning the first two games before losing two straight he won the decider 11-7. He’ll face Yuichiro Kitagawa (JPN) who won his quarter 3-1.
Similarly, class 7 has two semifinalists whose quarterfinals went the distance. Hiromoto Kita (JPN) needed extra points to win his match, winning the third 12-10 to complete a comeback. Kita’s opponent will be Brazilian Paulo Sergio Salmin Filho who won 3-1.
The other semifinal is also a Brazilian against a Japanese player and they followed a similar route. Kosuke Hemmi (JPN) also needed extra points to win his quarter final. After losing the second and third games by large margins he won the fourth 12-10 and the fifth 14-12. He will meet Paulo Henrique Fonseca in the semifinal.
The class 8 quarters were much more simple. Vit Spalek (CZE) was the only one who dropped a game, the three others swept their way to the semis.
The women’s singles also reached the semifinals, but with smaller fields had no quarter finals. Saturday will see the singles championships awarded while the doubles get started. Matches can be followed live through the ITTF event page.
Sailors in action in the men’s Hansa 303 classification (Photo: Isabel van Opzeeland/World Sailing)
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands —All but one para classification is led by European Sailors as the World Sailing Championships continued on Monday, but the battle is not over yet.
A win in the sixth race of the men’s Hansa 303 for Polish sailor Pitor Chichocki extended his lead from one point to three. With two wins in the last three races he sits top with seven points ahead of Japan’s Takumi Niwa who came third taking him to 10 points. With four races to go it’s still close enough that either of the pair could win but Chichocki will need to slip up.
Pitor Chichocki leads the men’s Hamsa 303 (Isabel van Opzeeland/World Sailing)
The only classification not led by a European is the women’s Hansa 303 which is led by American Betsy Alison with six points after six races. While Alison has been dominant, finishing first or second in all of her races that count, her race that doesn’t count was a disqualification after a starting line violation.
That opens the door for second placed Olga Gornas-Grudzien (POL) whose discarded score is 4. Any more mistakes from Alison will almost certainly open the door for Gornas-Grudzien. For Alison it’s been an astounding journey to lead this field having had a cancer diagnosis in 2021 which led to her having much of her hip removed in a hemipelvectomy.
Betsy Alison leads the women’s Hansa 303 (Isabel van Opzeeland/World Sailing)
Alison has long coached para-sailors and now finds herself competing against them for the first time.
“It’s kind of a very ironic thing that I spent nearly 25 years coaching Paralympic sailors, only to find myself on the flip side, doing what I’m doing now, being an athlete. It’s kind of a crazy situation.”
Betsy Alison before the regatta
It could be a history making moment for Alison as a win for her would make her the first person to win a sailing world championship in para and non-para events.
Heiko Kroger leads the open 2.4 meter (Isabel van Opzeeland/World Sailing)
With one race to go in the open 2.4 meter only an improbable collapse would stop German Heiko Kroger from winning the event. Kroger’s domination has him seven points clear with just two second-place finishes, one he has discarded. Race 10 would need Italian Davide Di Maria to win the race and Kroger to finish ninth for the German to not win the race.
The French pair Ange Margaron and Olivier Ducruix celebrate after a race win in the RS Venture Connect classification (Isabel van Opzeeland/World Sailing)
A similar story has unfolded in the RS Venture Connect event with the French pair of Ange Margaron and Olivier Ducruix all but world champions. Much like Kroger they have nine points after two second-place finishes, they are six points clear of Canadian pair John McRoberts and Scott Lutes who need to win and need the French to finish seventh.
ESPOT, Spain – The para alpine skiingWorld Championships moved to the combined races on Wednesday, with a broad swath of countries gaining gold medals.
Eva Aarsjoe (SWE) claimed the women’s standing event, dominating from the start. She claimed the win in the super-g backing up her win in that event on Tuesday. She then extended her lead, claiming gold by winning the slalom. She was the only skier in the classification to go under two minutes.
Chiara Mazzel (ITA) managed the same feat in the women’s visual impaired classification. She won the Super-G in a rapid 58.54. In the afternoon, she backed up to win the slalom and finish with a combined 1:59.95.
All three women’s classifications were won in sweeps, as Anna-Lena Forster (GER) easily won the women’s sitting event. She won her second gold medal of the meet, winning the combined gold by a margin of over 14 seconds.
Johannes Aigner (AUT) swept his classification after two close races. He claimed the super-g in 52.79 before backing up to win the slalom and the event by less than one second from Giacomo Bertagnolli.
Robin Cuche (SUI) won the men’s standing super-g to take a handy lead into the slalom. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to hold on. A blistering run from Arthur Bauchet of 53.15 in the slalom saw the Frenchman win the combined event. He finished over four seconds clear of Cuche, who just couldn’t hold on.
Jesper Pedersen (NOR) got quicker in the slalom after winning the super-g in the men’s sitting classification. He won the super-g in the morning in 54.4 before going even faster in the slalom, winning in 53.42. Despite those quick times, he was less than one second ahead of silver medalist Rene de Silvestro (ITA).
The world championship moves to giant slalom on Thursday before a rest day on Friday.
BAIE-COMEAU, Quebec, Canada – It was a day of very close finishes, with some needing a photo finish, as the world para-cycling championships wrapped up on Sunday.
France had the best of the final day, winning three gold medals. They finished first and second in the men’s C2 road race. Alexandre Leaute completed a double with a nine-second win over compatriot Florian Chapeau.
Kevin Le Cunff improved from his bronze in the time-trial to claim the men’s C5 road race. It took a photo finish to give him the gold medal after the top four all finished simultaneously. Another photo was needed in the women’s C5 with Marie Patouillet declared the winner narrowly ahead of Kerstin Brachtendorf (GER).
Dutch pair Tristan Bangma and Patrick Bos celebrate winning gold. (Photo: Swpix/UCI)
The Netherlands claimed the top spot in the medal tally after winning the final event of the championships with Tristan Bangma winning the men’s B road race with his pilot Patrick Bos. It completed a stunning season for the pair, who have won every event they’ve competed in.
Ireland also had an impressive final day, claiming two gold medals. A photo finish gave Ronan Grimes the win in the men’s C4. It was the most extended wait for any of the photo finishes of the day and sparked big celebrations.
The podium from the women’s B road race (photo: swpix/UCI)
A big push on the final lap of the women’s B road race saw Katie-George Dunlevy claim gold with her pilot Eve McCrystal. That saw them overcome the British pair who beat them in the time trial.
It wasn’t all bad for British cyclists, with Finlay Graham claiming gold in the men’s C3 road race. A second gold was added by Frances Brown in the C1.
The most dominant performance of the day came in the men’s C1 when Spaniard Ricardo Ten Argiles won by five minutes.
German Maike Hausberger backed up from her time trial gold to win the women’s C5 road race. Japan picked up its first championship gold medal with the women’s C3 road race through Keiko Suguira in just two seconds. Samantha Bosco claimed gold for the USA in the women’s C4 road race, finishing three minutes clear.
LONDON and BIRMINGHAM, England, United Kingdom – Joachim Gerard claimed his sixth straight grass-court win. In contrast, Andy Lapthorne won a historical event. Gerard claimed his victory at the cinch Championships in London. At the same time, Lapthorne was the winner of the first non-Wimbledon quad grass-court tournament, the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham.
Gerard came to London as the defending Wimbledon champion. He got his grass season off to a perfect start by claiming the cinch Championship. The semi-final was a marathon match at the Queen’s Club in West Kensington. The Belgian needed more than two and a half hours to overcome the number two seed 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-2.
That set up a non-British final, which Gerard made much lighter work of, beating Stephane Houdet (FRA) 6-1, 6-2. By winning this event, Gerard became the first non-British Wheelchair Tennis champion at Queen’s in only the third running of the tournament.
“I’m happy to be back on grass after a long year to wait for it,” Gerard said. “I showed yesterday (against Hewett) that I wanted to do something well. The last few matches were not good, especially against Stephane. I lost at Roland Garros and the French Riviera Open in the last two weeks against him. Grass is a good surface for me, but when I have the mindset like today, I can beat anyone.”
By contrast, a British player won in Birmingham as the Rothesay Classic hosted a quad singles event for the first time. Lapthorne claimed the title, only dropping five games as he cruised past Antony Cotterill and James Shaw to begin his preparations for Wimbledon.
“To be invited to such a great event that the LTA have put on is amazing and to win the first one is always nice. The plan was to come and get a couple of matches on grass. I only managed to get one, but it’s good preparation, and now we roll on towards Wimbledon,” said Lapthorne. “I’m hoping that next year we’re going to have more of the top players come over and play now that this event has taken place. It is obviously vital preparations for Wimbledon to be able to come here and play on great courts.”
That will probably happen going forward, with the Wimbledon quad draw being expanded to eight players, meaning that more will want to get experience on British grass.
There is still one more wheelchair tennis Wimbledon warm-up event with a women’s singles event at the Eastbourne International.
Photo: Joachim Gerard celebrates winning the cinch Championship (LTA)
PARIS – For the first time, a grand slam had a wheelchair singles field of 32, increasing opportunities on the sport’s biggest stage. And with that has come some stunning upsets in Roland Garros with at least one player that would have missed out if it was 16 making the semi-final stages.
The biggest upset in the men’s singles draw is Tokito Ota, ranked ninth in the world, who has set up an all-Japanese semi-final with world number two Shingo Kunieda.
After playing in the new first round, he took out the French legend Nicolas Peifer 6-1, 6-3. After that, he took on Gordon Reid (GBR #4) and again came through in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.
No.2 seed Shingo Kunieda won his men’s wheelchair singles quarter-final against France’s Stephane Houdet.
In the semi-final, he will take on Kunieda, who continued the rough tournament for French players against Japanese players. Kunieda beat Stefane Houdet 6-3, 6-2.
The other semi-final will see the British number one seed, Alfie Hewett, take on Argentina’s number three seed Gustavo Hernandez.
After a bye to the second round, Hewett beat Tom Egerbink 6-1, 6-2. Fernandez also took a bye to the second round and won a challenging first set 6-4 before beating Martin De La Puente (ESP) 6-1 in the second.
Japanese No.2 seed Yui Kamiji
The women’s singles went precisely as the seeding suggested it would. The world number one Diede De Groot (NED) is through to the semis after a 6-2, 6-1 win over Angelica Bernal (COL). She will play Kgothatso Montjane (RSA), who also won through in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
The other semi-final will pit the second and third players in the world against each other. Anniek Van Koot (NED) came back from a set down to beat Dana Mathewson (USA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Yuji Kamiji won the all-Japanese second round match against Momoko Ohtani in three 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-2.
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 has been an incredible Beijing 2022 for Finland‘s Santeri Kiiveri. That continued Thursday as he clinched another historic alpine skiing medal for his country as the men’s giant slalom events awarded medals.
Earlier in the Games, Kiiveri won his country’s first alpine skiing medal with silver in the super-combined. Today he went one better, getting Finland’s first alpine skiing Paralympic gold medal with a win in the men’s standing giant slalom.
“The giant slalom has all the time been really good for me but I haven’t been able to do good runs in the races and now everything came together,” said the champion. “It’s been a great job for me. After the first medal I decided that now I would just enjoy and go full gas and that paid off.”
It was a very close race; Thomas Walsh (USA) was only 0.04 seconds behind in one of the tightest finishes ever. Arthur Bauchet (FRA) sealed his third medal by finishing third.
Photo: OIS
Another skier won his third medal as Jesper Pedersen (NOR) claimed gold in the men’s sitting. It’s his third gold of the games as he continues his consistent performances. He was joined on the podium by Rene de Silvestro (ITA) and Liang Zilu (CHN).
A thrilling second run from Johannes Aigner (AUT) (guide: Matteo Fleischmann) saw him come from behind to claim gold in the men’s visually impaired. That saw Giacomo Bertagnolli (ITA) (guide: Andrea Ravelli) step up to try and overhaul Aiger’s time. Still, he fell short, losing his title and falling to second place.
China, Sweden, Canada and Slovakia qualify for curling semifinals
Photo: OIS Photos
As the round-robin completed on Thursday, China and Canada will join the European duo of Sweden and Slovakia in the Beijing 2022 wheelchair curling semifinals.
There were concerns that the hosts would not make it through to the semifinals after losing their first two matches, but those concerns were quickly put to rest. After losing the first two games, China came back and won seven straight, capping that with a 6-3 win over Great Britain in the morning.
Canada needed two wins to qualify and got them managing a 9-3 win over Estonia and a 7-6 win over Norway. Those results set up a semifinal rematch from four years ago when China stunned the previously unbeaten Canadians.
Sweden had to fight off a spirited performance from the Americans to seal a place in the semifinals. Sweden came from behind to defeat the USA 10-7 on the back of a perfect seventh end.
Slovakia clinched its first curling semifinal appearance thanks to beating Switzerland 8-6 in the morning. That then needed Great Britain beat Latvia, which happened with an 8-4 win sending Slovakia through.
The two European sides will faceoff in the other semifinal; Sweden will be seeking its first curling medal since 2006.
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