Russian skiers hit winning streak ahead of Sochi 2014

Aleksandra Frantceva and Inga Medvedeva claim two victories each in downhill events at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in Tarvisio, Italy. 25 Feb 2014

A picture of a woman skiing on the slopes

Aleksandra Frantceva is Russia's top visually impaired alpine skier heading into the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

ⒸMarcus Hartmann

By IPC

In the first race of the day, the Russian pair beat American rivals Danelle Umstead and husband guide Rob, into second, whilst Australia’s Melissa Perrine and guide Andrew Bor were third. In the second race, Umstead was again runner-up behind Frantceva.

Russia’s Aleksandra Frantceva and Inga Medvedeva sent out strong warnings to their rivals ahead of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games by claiming two victories apiece in downhill on the opening day of the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in Tarvisio, Italy, on Tuesday (25 February).

On a bright and sunny day, 26-year-old Frantceva and guide Pavel Zabotin, winners of three world titles last year, were the skiers to beat in the women’s visually impaired class.

In the first race of the day, the Russian pair beat American rivals Danelle Umstead and husband guide Rob, into second, whilst Australia’s Melissa Perrine and guide Andrew Bor were third. In the second race, Umstead was again runner-up behind Frantceva.

Frantceva’s teammate Medvedeva also topped the podium twice on Tuesday thanks to victories in the women’s standing. In both races, the USA’s Allison Jones came second with Italy’s Melania Corradini third.

Austrian athletes also had a day to remember on the hill with Markus Salcher winning both men’s standing races ahead of his teammate Matthias Lanzinger. Australia’s Toby Kane claimed third in the first race of the day, a position occupied by Russia’s Alexey Bugaev in the second race.

Not to be outdone, Salcher’s teammate Claudia Loesch also claimed victories in the two women’s sitting events, finishing ahead of the USA’s Laurie Stephens each time.

Japan’s Akira Kano claimed both victories in the thrilling men’s sitting races.

In the first race, the last two runners - USA’s Christopher Devlin-Young and Austria’s Reinhold Sampl – took the second and third spots respectively, whilst the second race saw the podium finishers separated by just 0.19 seconds. Kano was first, just 0.06 seconds ahead of Canada’s Caleb Brousseau. In third place, a further 0.13 seconds back, was Devlin-Young.

On his long awaited return from a serious Achilles injury, Spain’s Jon Santacana, guided by Miguel Galindo, will be pleased with his two third-place finishes in the men’s visually impaired.

Both races were won by the USA’s Mark Bathum, guided by Cade Yamamoto, whilst Italy’s Alesssandro Daldoss, guided Luca Negrini, was second.

Mark Bathum said: “Parts of the run felt great and the run in its entirety felt faster than we had been going. I actually skied less well today then yesterday. Technically I had a few small errors.”

Races in Tarvisio will now conclude on Wednesday (26 February) due to a poor weather forecast for Thursday (27 February). Super-combined races are scheduled to begin at 10am (CET) and all events are being live streamed at www.paralympic.org/live-sport

Pictures are available daily at the IPC's flicker account.

Updates will be posted to Facebook.com/IPCAlpine and @IPCAlpine or search #Tarvisio2014.