Shyshkova focused on grabbing first world title

The Ukrainian visually impaired skier plans to make 2017 her year having missed out on the top step on the podium at the last three editions. 07 Feb 2017

Oksana Shyshkova of Ukraine competes in the Women's Cross Country 5km Free Visually Impaired at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

ⒸGetty Images

By Tim Norris | For the IPC

“This World Cup was not only a key event in the preparation for the World Championships in Finsterau, but was also one of the main events before the Winter Paralympic Games in 2018.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Ukraine’s Oksana Shyshkova is yet to win gold at the highest level.

Competing in the women’s visually impaired, she has won silver or bronze at the past three World Para Nordic Skiing Championships in 2011, 2013, and 2015.

She also made a successful Paralympic Games debut at Sochi 2014, winning bronze four times across both biathlon and cross-country events.

After a strong start to the crucial 2016-17 season, where she has won nine races at biathlon and cross-country skiing World Cups, Shyskova spoke about her hopes and aims for the World Championships in Finsterau, Germany, which open on Friday (10 February).

“I want to show my best performance and get the highest results possible at the World Championships in Finsterau. I can’t predict the number of medals I could win, but I’ll get a gold for Ukraine. I really want to hear the anthem of Ukraine as much as possible and see our flag raised.”

Shyshkova has had plenty of success at Finsterau before, something that should give her confidence ahead of the event.

“I have competed in Finsterau before [in February 2016], beating my main rival three times. That particular time I got my three gold medals in biathlon.”

She feels the recent World Cup in Ukraine could be a key part of her preparations for the season ahead. Shyshkova picked up four victories.

“This World Cup was not only a key event in the preparation for the World Championships in Finsterau, but was also one of the main events before the Winter Paralympic Games in 2018.”

While a successful season is often measured in podium finishes, Shyshkova revealed the other ways she measures success.

She said, “It’s important to enjoy every start, develop both functionally and physically, and perform well and win races.”

In closing, she looked at the importance of this season ahead of PyeongChang 2018.

“It’s necessary to perform well throughout the season to get your ticket to the Paralympic Games. It also helps you to analyse your mistakes so that when it comes to PyeongChang, I can perform at 100 per cent.”

The Finsterau 2017 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships will gather 135 of the world’s best biathletes and cross-country skiers from 25 countries in Finsterau between 10-19 February.

All races will be shown live alongside live results at Finsterau2017.com.