Russia continue to lead alpine skiing World Cup rankings

With only a super combined and night slalom race still to go at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Fianls in Sochi, the Russians are leading the nation rankings with 4572 points. Austria are in second with 3545 points, followed by France with 3226 points.

The second downhill race on Saturday (9 March) took place in cloudy conditions, that made for much better snow conditions compared to the hot weather on Friday.

USA's Danelle Umstead, still badly bruised after crashing into the nets in the first downhill event, was overjoyed to win gold the women's visually impaired class in in 1:32.54, guided by her husband Rob.

"I'm pretty sore," said Umstead, with a bandage on her chin. "But excited that we won a gold medal at the World Cup Finals, and this is pretty exciting going into Sochi next year for the Paralympic Games. This is a good start."

Russia's Alexandra Frantseva came second in 1:32.57 guided by Pavel Zabotin, and Great Britain's Kelly Gallagher, guided by Charlotte Evans, won bronze in 1:34.39.

With her silver medal, Frantseva still holds on to the overall women's title with 1,000 points. But with two races still to go, Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber, is close behind with 980 points. Her teammate, standing skier Andrea Rothfuss, who won gold on Saturday, is in third place overall with 926 points.

Rothfuss' gold medal was the first time during the last few weeks that she has managed to ski faster than France's Marie Bochet. Rothfuss finished in 1:29.20, whilst Bochet was less than a second behind in 1:30.19. The pair will battle it out agin in the super combined on Sunday (10 March).

"I've know the whole season that I could beat her," said Rothfuss. "Today it's come true and it's a great feeling."

In the women's sitting event, Schaffelhuber picked up her second gold in 1:34.33. Austria's Claudia Loesch was second in 1:35.94 and USA's Alana Nichols finished third in 1:37.90.

In the men's overall rankings, standing skier Alexey Bugaev of Russia leads the rankings with 840 points. He is closely followed by Austria's Matthias Lanzinger with 800 points. Visually impaired skier, Jon Santacana Maiztegui of Spain, who won his second gold in downhill on Saturday guided by Miguel Galindo Garces, is in third place in the overall men's rankings with 760 points.

Santacana Maiztegui finished in 1:20.54. Italy's Alessandro Daldoss guided by Davide Riva was second in 1:21.02 and USA's Mark Bathum, guided by Slater Storey, finished third in 1:21.27.

The men's standing event was even closer, with the top three just 0.2 seconds apart. France's Vincent Gauthier-Manuel won his second gold in the discipline in 1:21.95.

"It's never easy because it's a real downhill slope," said Gauthier-Manuel. "It's difficult because there are a lot of steep and flat parts and there are some gates that you can't see until just before, so it's interesting."

Lanzinger was second in 1:22.05 and Bugaev took bronze in 1:22.15.

The men's sitting race was also a thriller with USA's Christopher Devlin-Young taking his first gold of the season in 1:22.58.

"It feels excellent," he sadi. "I've been working very hard with brand new equipment and I've been struggling to just finish. This is not only my first win, but also my first finish of the season."

The Netherlands' Kees-Jan van der Klooster took silver in 1:23.38 and France's Yohann Taberlet was third in 1:23.54.

Here's a look at the downhill rankings after the second event on Saturday.

Women's downhill visually impaired

1. Russia's Alexandra Frantseva (guide Pavel Zabotin) 180

2. Great Britain's Jade Etherington (guide John Clark) 130

3. USA's Danelle Umstead (guide Rob Umstead) 100

Frantseva leads the women's visually impaired overall rankings with 1,000 points, with Slovakia's Henrieta Farkasova, who is not competing in Sochi due to injury, in second place with 660 points.

Women's downhill standing

1. Germany's Andrea Rothfuss and France's Marie Bochet 180

3. USA's Allison Jones and Russia's Inga Medvedeva 110

Rothfuss leads the women's standing overall rankings with 926 points, Bochet is in second place with 780 points.

Women's downhill sitting

1. Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber 200

2. Austria's Claudia Loesch 80

3. USA's Alana Nichols 60

Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber has a comfortable lead in the overall women's sitting rankings with 980 points, followed by Loesch on 760 points.

Men's downhill visually impaired

1. Spain's Jon Santacana Maiztegui (guide Miguel Galindo Garces) 200

2. Italy's Alessandro Daldoss (guide Davide Riva) 130

3. Canada's Chris Williamson (guide Robin Femy) 110

Santacana leads the men's visually impaired overall rankings with 760 points, followed by Russia's Ivan Frantsev, who has 646.

Men's downhill standing

1. France's Vincent Gauthier-Manuel 200

2. Russia's Alexey Bugaev 140

3. Austria's Matthias Lanzinger 130

Bugaev is only just in the lead in the men's standing overall rankings with 840 points. Lanzinger is not far behind on 800 points.

Men's downhill sitting

1. USA's Tyler Walker 145

2. France's YohannTaberlet 140

3. USA's Christopher Devlin Young 100

Japan's Takeshi Suzuki, who placed 11th in Saturday's downhill, leads the men's sitting overall rankings with 666 points. His teammate Taiki Morii, who came eighth in the second downhill race, is just behind in the overall rankings with 573 points.

For full results, please visit the IPC Alpine Skiing results page.

The 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals Sochi is also a test event for the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. The event continues on Sunday with the super combined.

Fans can watch the races live on ParalympicSport.TV and follow the results on @IPCAlpine on Twitter and Facebook.com/IPCAlpineSkiing.