Franz Hanfstingl Remains Victorious

Five out of six gold-medal positions remained unchanged on Friday in the second day of the Slalom event at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing Competition in Landgraaf, the Netherlands.

Germany was the overall winner of the two-day event, bagging six gold and three silver medals. Second was Russia which won the other six gold medals, one silver and one bronze. In third place overall was Austria with four silver and three bronze medals.

Germany’s Franz Hanfstingl, dubbed “the unbeatable” by his fellow skiers, won his second gold of the men’s Slalom Sitting competition, beating teammate Thomas Nolte, who took silver. Nolte had been disqualified from Thursday’s competition after missing a gate – a fate of the other talented German Sit Skier, Georg Kreiter on Friday’s second run. Bronze went to the Czech Republic’s Miroslav Sperk.

Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss also held on to gold in the women’s Slalom Standing, and Russia’s Mariya Papulova and Finalnd’s Katja Sarinen were able to get their first silver and bronze of the competition respectively after the Netherlands’ Anna Jochemsen missed a gate on her second run.

The only gold medal to change hands on the second day was in the women’s Slalom Sitting. Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster took gold after finishing 1.81 seconds faster than teammate Anna Schaffelhuber, who won silver. Belgium’s Eline Allert took bronze.

Russia’s Alexandr Alyabyev held on to gold in the men’s Slalom Standing. The other positions also remained unchanged with Austria’s Markus Salcher and Matthias Lanzinger taking silver and bronze respectively. Lanzinger, a former able-bodied European Cup winner, received a lot of media attention throughout the competition, which was his debut in a Para-Alpine Skiing event.

In the men’s Slalom Visually Impaired event, Russia’s Valery Redkozubov and guide Viacheslav Molodtsov won their second gold of the competition. After Austria’s Christoph Prettner was disqualified in the first race for missing a gate, Switzerland’s Beda Zimmerman and guide Thomas Vanes had the opportunity to step up into second place. Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuzmin took bronze.

In the women’s events Russia’s Alexandra Frantseva and guide E Kolosovskaya also remained unbeaten, to take their second gold. Poland’s Anna Kosinska with guide Dariusz Rutkowski pushed their way to silver, and Great Britain’s Jade Etherington guided by Fiona Gingell had to settle for third place.