Russia reign supreme at Nordic Worlds

Russia’s Roman Petushkov and Mikhailina Lysova each won five gold medals at the 2013 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships. 05 Mar 2013

A picture of a man celebrating after crosses the finish line

Roman Petushkov

ⒸIPC

By IPC

Russia were the dominant force of the Championships, winning a total of 56 medals, 22 of which were gold.

Russia’s Roman Petushkov and Mikhalina Lysova finished as the king and queen of the 2013 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships in Solleftea, Sweden, having each picked up their fifth gold medal of the event on its final day on Tuesday (5 March) in the cross-country skiing middle distance races.

Russia were the dominant force of the Championships, winning a total of 56 medals, 22 of which were gold.

Ukraine placed second in the medal tally with seven gold, 11 silver and nine bronze medals, followed by Germany with three gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Lysova and her guide Alexey Ivanov were once again unbeatable on the track, finishing in a time of 15:51.8, 33 seconds ahead of her compatriot Elena Remizova.

Remizova (guide Natalia Yakimova) clocked a time of 16:24.7, which was good enough for second place and the silver medal, and gave her a 36 seconds advantage over her teammate Iuliia Budaleeva with her guide Tatiana Maltseva. The duo finished in a time of 16:59.7.

Petushkov was simply unstoppable in the men’s sitting category, dominating the cross-country skiing 10k race from the start, clocking best times in each intermediate. His finishing time of 24:41.7 gave him a 43 second advantage over his teammate Grigory Murygin.

Japan’s Kozo Kubo’s time was just six seconds outside of Murygin’s time and brought him the bronze medal. Kubo picked up five medals in total, including a gold medal in the men’s sitting biathlon long distance race.

It was another podium sweep for Russia in the men’s visually impaired category, as Nikolay Polukhin and his guide Andrey Tokarev won their fifth overall gold medal of the World Championships, finishing in a time of 28:01.2.

Polukhin’s teammate Stanislav Choklaev (guide Maksim Pirogov) crossed the finish line in a time of 28:35.5, which was good enough to claim the silver medal ahead of Alexsander Artemov (guide Ilya Cherepanov). The bronze medallists were one minute off Choklaev’s pace.

German Andrea Eskau skied to her third gold of the Championships with an impressive performance on the track in the women’s sitting category. The 41-year-old finished in a time of 14:29.5, which put her 16 seconds ahead of Mariann Marthinsen of Norway.

Marthinsen, who did not compete in the biathlon races and thus had time to gather her strength, was in third place after the first 2.5k lap, but picked up her pace on the second lap to take that silver medal in a time of 14:46.0.

Lyudmila Vauchok of Belarus was just 0.4 seconds outside off the silver medal and won her first medal of the Championships, finishing in a time of 14:46.4, which brought her the bronze medal.

In the men’s standing category, it was a podium sweep for the Russian team with Vladislav Lekomtcev winning his second individual gold medal of the Championships. He finished in a time of 27:08.5 just five seconds ahead of his compatriot Rushan Minnegulov, who won his third individual medal in Solleftea.

Kirill Mikhailov completed the podium for Russia, clocking a time of 28:13.9, one minute behind second-place finisher Minnegulov.

Oleksandra Kononova won her first gold medal of the Championships in the women’s standing category. Having picked up five medals already (two silvers, three bronze), the Ukrainian finally stood atop of the podium.

Her time of 15:58.9 put her just 3.6 seconds ahead of her compatriot Iuliia Batenkova, who took home the silver medal.

The bronze medal went to Sweden’s home favourite Helene Ripa, world champion of the sprint race, with a time of 16:43.4.

All races and highlights of from the World Championships can be watched on the IPC’s YouTube channel here.

Results and news from the event are available at www.ipcnordicskiingworlds.org/.