Tyumen natives to ski at Nordic skiing World Cup

The hosts of the opening 2015 IPC Biathlon and Cross-Country Skiing World Cup in Tyumen, Russia, are putting the finishing touches to their preparations for the competition which gets underway on 2 December.

The World Cup, which will be held in the regional winter sports centre The Pearl of Siberia, will feature five Russian athletes and guides who are all from the world famous Tyumen region.

Paralympic and world champion Nikolay Polukhin and guide Andrei Tokarev, Stanislav Chokhlaev and guide Maksim Pirogov and skier Elena Remizova were all born or train in the area.

Guides Catherine Tyryshkina and Oleg Kolodiichuk also hail from Tyumen and will guide some of the other 60 Russian athletes who will compete. The whole team is supported by coaches Alexei Kopytin and Vyacheslav Goldin, who is also the trainer in Tyumen, team doctor Vladimir Semenov and masseuse Vera Pervunina.

The USA, Germany, Norway, France, Finland and PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games hosts South Korea are also amongst the teams expected for cross-country skiing and biathlon.

Between 2-5 December, athletes will compete in cross-country skiing races before biathlon gets underway from 6-9 December.