Russian superstar Petushkov was the most decorated Paralympian at Sochi with his clean-sweep of the sitting events and looked well on course to repeat that performance at the World Championships following his recent World Cup form.

A single missed shot cost him dearly in Cable, however, as he finished down in 13th, paving the way for Yarovyi to storm to biathlon gold in 22min 2.7sec.

The Ukrainian shot clean to cross the line 5.1 seconds ahead of local favourite Andy Soule of the United States, while Russian biathlete Alexey Bychenok missed one shot to finish 13 seconds further adrift in third.

There was better luck for the Russians in the women's equivalent event as Nadezhda Fedorova captured gold in front of team mate Marta Zaynullina.

Fedorova's time of 22:44.0 was 1.7 seconds ahead of her compatriot's, while Germany's Andrea Eskau denied a Russian clean-sweep by finishing third.

Russia's Vladislav Lekomtcev continued the gold medal run for his country in the men's standing as he crossed the line more than 7 seconds ahead of France's Benjamin Daviet with his time of 18:40.2.

Norwegian Nils Erik Ulset rounded off the podium in third.

Vladislav Lekomtcev captured men's standing gold as Russia dominated the first day of action at the 2015 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships ©Getty Images



Not to be outdone by their Russian rivals, Oleksandra Kononova led a Ukrainian one-two in the women's standing event as she finished in 18:42.2 despite missing three targets.

Kononova's incredible speed on the skis gave her a 25 second lead over team mate Liudmyla Liashenko, with Finland's Maija Järvelä a further 10 seconds behind in third.

Russia were back on top in the visually impaired races as Nikolay Polukhin, guided by Andrey Tokarev, and Iuliia Budaleeva, guided by Tatiana Maltseva, won gold in the men's and women's contests respectively.

Polukhin clocked a time of 18:55.4 to comfortably beat Ukraine's Anatolii Kovalevskyi and guide Oleksandr Mukshyn, as well as team mates Vladimir Udaltcov and guide Ruslan Borgachev.

It was also a comfortable win for Budaleeva in the women's race, with her time of 18:31.3, more than 30 seconds clear of the Ukrainian pairing of Oksana Shyshkova and guide Lada Nesterenko in second.

Germany's Vivian Hosch and guide Florian Schillinger found their way onto the podium as they captured bronze.

Competition continues in Cable tomorrow where long-distance cross-country skiers will get their time chance to shine at the 2015 World Championships.

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