Russians Excel in Super Combined

Though the Germans still lead the overall team trophy, Russia topped the rankings in the Super Combined events 29 Mar 2012

Russia's Valery Redkozubov and guide Viachesla Molodtsov came 4th and 5th in the men's Super-G Visually Impaired at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Winter Park, USA.

ⒸMichael Knaus

By IPC

“It's the first competition where I have been able to realize the high level of our French athletes and also the athletes from all the nations participating. I am thrilled.”

Russia scored the most ranking points in the Super Combined at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing Europa Cup finals in Auron, France.

Russia picked up two gold and one silver medal in Wednesday’s (28 March) Super Combined race.

Alexandra Frantseva stormed ahead to take gold in the women’s Visually Impaired, and teammate Valery Redkozubov skied to silver in the men’s event. He was just 0.37 seconds behind Slovakia’s Jakub Krako, who took gold. Krako is currently leading the men’s Visually Impaired Rankings on 1,265 points.

Standing skier Alexandr Alyabyev won Russia’s second gold of the day, finishing 0.86 seconds ahead of France’s Vincent Gauthier-Manuel. The Russian’s Super-G race was not the fastest – that honour went to Austria’s Markus Salcher, who came fifth overall after a slow Slalom. However, Alyabyev’s Slalom performance made up for it, finishing 1.68 seconds ahead of teammate Alexey Bugaev, who came third overall.

“It's the first competition where I have been able to realize the high level of our French athletes and also the athletes from all the nations participating. I am thrilled,” said Michele-Anne Sahin, President of the Committee of Alpine-Maritime Disability Sport (Comitée Handisport Alpes Maritimes).

Though the Russian team excelled in the Super Combined, they are placed fourth for the team trophy with 4,706 points. Germany is topping the team rankings with 5,766 points, having extended its lead in Wednesday’s races with one gold and three silvers.

Germany’s Anna Schaffelhuber won gold in the women’s Sitting, beating teammate Anna-Lena Forster. Schaffelhuber has 1,620 points overall – almost double those of Forster.

Andrea Rothfuss also won silver for Germany, conceding gold to France’s Marie Bochet, whose overall time was 0.65 seconds faster, though Rothfuss was a touch faster (0.02 seconds) on the Super-G run. Italy’s Melania Corradini, who won bronze, is still leading the women’s Standing rankings on 1,245 points.

The third German silver was won by Georg Kreiter in the men’s Sitting. Austria’s Dietmar Dorn and Roman Rabl took gold and bronze respectively. Germany’s Thomas Nolte, who tops the overall men’s Sitting rankings, came fourth. The quartet all finished within half a second of each other.

The IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup continues on Thursday 29 March with the Giant Slalom finals.

With points close for several trophies, all is still to play in the next couple of days, and the standard of competition continues to impress.