Hyacinthe Deleplace performs clean sweep in Italy

France’s Hyacinthe Deleplace and guide Frederic Mazieres swept all of their races at the season’s third Europa Cup in Sella Nevea, Italy, as they claimed gold in the men’s giant slalom vision impaired as well, on 31 January.

The final giant slalom events across all categories, set to take place on 1 February, were cancelled due to bad weather.

They had previously won the two super-G events. These were the Frenchman’s biggest victories in his career since switching from athletics to alpine skiing in 2016.

Czech Republic’s Patrik Hetmer, guided by Miroslav Macala, and Austria’s Gernot Morgenfurt and guide Christoph Peter Gmeiner, completed the podium.

Austria’s 14-year-old Veronika Aigner, guided by Elisabeth Aigner, took gold in the women’s vision impaired. She was followed by South Korea’s Jae Rim Yang and guide Un So Ri Ko, and Czech Republic’s Anna Peskova, guided by Michaela Hubacova.

World Championships bronze medallist Anna-Maria Rieder won her first event of the season as she stormed to gold in the women’s sitting. Germany’s 17-year-old is gaining confidence ahead what will be her maiden Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Italy’s Melania Corradini took silver and Switzerland’s Elena Kratter bronze.

The men’s standing was arguably the most thrilling event of all, with neutral athlete Aleksei Bugaev winning by just 0.53 over Austria’s Markus Salcher, who had emerged as triumphant in both the super-G events.

Another Austrian skier - Martin Wuerz - ended third.

Igor Sikorski continued his good season by winning the men’s sitting. The Polish has already secured one World Cup and two Europa Cup victories in 2017-18, showing how determined he is to reach his first Paralympic podium at his second Winter Games in PyeongChang.

Germany’s Georg Kreiter and Croatia’s Dino Sokolovic completed the top-three.

The second Austrian gold of the day came through Heike Eder in the women’s sitting. She ended ahead of China’s Sitong Liu and France’s Mejie Bidault.

The Europa Cup circuit will close in Obersaxen, Switzerland, between 26 and 28 March.

Complete results are available on World Para Alpine Skiing’s website.