By Michael Pavitt

Iuliia Budaleeva remains unbeaten in Surnadal this week ©Getty ImagesRussia earned four gold medals for the second at this year's International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Nordic Skiing World Cup finals, as they dominated the individual pursuit races in Surnadal, Norway.


Iuliia Budaleeva, guided by Tatiana Maltseva, maintained her unbeaten record at the finals by claiming victory in the women's visually impaired pursuit race after finishing in a time of 33min 10.5sec.

Ukrainian athletes rounded off the podium as Olga Prylutska and her guide Borys Babar secured second in a time of 34:10.5, while Lada Nesterenko guided Oksana Shyshkova to a third place finish, posting a time of 34:45.5.

Russia earned victory in the equivalent men's event with Nikolay Polukhin and guide Andrey Tokarev taking gold in 39:22.9 having only missed one shot throughout the event, while Ukraine's Anatolii Kovalevski finished runner-up in 40:04.8 with guide Oleksandr Mukshyn.

Stanislav Chokhlaev took bronze in 40:28.9, with guide Evgenii Fakhullin, having claimed the 7.5km title on Wednesday (March 18). 

Further Russian success was secured by Vladislav Lekomtcev, who secured consecutive victory in men's standing event, after completing the pursuit in 35:31.4, ahead of Ukraine's Grygorii Vovchynskyi and Canada's Mark Arendz, who secured silver and bronze in 35:58.2 and 36:43.5.

The fourth and final Russian gold of the day went to Alexey Bychenok in the men's sitting event, after he shot clean to win in 41:43.8, while Daniel Cnossen of the United States was second in 42:38.2 and Belarussian Dzmitry Loban completed the top three in 42:46.2.

Liudmyla Liashenko beat teammate Oleksandra Kononova to claim women's standing gold ©Getty ImagesLiudmyla Liashenko beat teammate Oleksandra Kononova to claim women's standing gold ©Getty Images



Ukraine secured gold and silver in the women's standing event as Liudmyla Liashenko beat her teammate Oleksandra Kononova to gold in 30:40.1 after.

Kononova is likely to regret seven missed shots which saw her finish well adrift in 33:19.3, while Japan's Yurika Abe was third in 36.43.6.

Germany's Anja Wicker took gold in the women's sitting event, completing the course in 20:18.1 without dropping a shot, while Russia's Natalia Kocherova earned silver in 21.04.6 and Lidziya Hrafeyeva of Belarus was third.

The Nordic Skiing World Cup is due to come to an end in Surnadal on Sunday (March 22).

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