Home favourite Arendz stems the Russian gold fest on final day of Nordic Skiing World Cup

By Gary Anderson

December 17 - Canadian Mark Arendz finally broke the Russian stranglehold on gold medals at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Nordic Skiing World Cup in Canmore by taking gold in the men's 15 kilometre standing race.

It was a familiar story in the other events, however, with three more titles going to Russia, following a rest day at the Canmore Nordic Centre.

In the men's 12.5km race earlier in the week, Arendz had to settle for silver after some wayward shooting, but on the final day of competition he had his sights firmly back on the target as he dropped only one shot to finish clear of Russian Aleksandr Pronkov with Norway's Nils-Erik Ulset taking the bronze.

Roman Petushkov underlined his superiority by claiming his third gold medal, this time in the men's 15km sitting competition, finishing ahead of Kuzo Kubo once again.

Though the Japanese matched Petushkov with the rifle - both dropping one shot - the Russian's speed on the sled saw him over the line again.

There was a first medal of the meeting for Alexey Bychenok of Russia who came in third.

Roman Petushkov ended a successful week in Canmore with his third gold medal in the 15km sitting race ©Pam Doyle/IPC

Nikolay Polukhin secured his customary place atop the podium in the men's visually impaired (VI) long distance race after he and guide Andrey Tokarev won their third gold in as many races at the Canmore Nordic Centre, which was built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

The two-time Paralympic champion led home an all-Russian top seven with the silver and bronze going to Vladimir Udaltcov and guide Ruslan Bogachev, and Aleksei Toropov and guide Evgenii Fatkhullin.

"The Canmore courses are about the same level of difficulty as where I train in Tyumen, Russia," said Polukhin afterwards.

"But the tracks here are just great and I want to thank the organisers."

Similarly in the women's VI race, the blue, white and red of Russia enveloped the podium as Vancouver 2010 champion Mikhalina Lysova and guide Alexey Ivanov got the better of teammates Iuliia Budaleeva and guide Tatiana Maltseva who came second ahead of Elena Remizova and Natalia Yakimova.

After finishing second and third in Canmore this week, Svetlana Konovalova left it until the last day to finally claim a gold medal despite dropping three shots in the women's 12.5km sitting event.

Svetlana Konovalova claimed her first gold medal at the Canmore IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup on the final day of action ©Pam Doyle/IPC

Her speed on the sled was enough to see her claim victory in a time of 41min 53:40sec ahead of compatriots Nadezda Andreeva and a delighted Akzhana Abdikarimova who secured her first podium finish in four years.

"I am so happy," beamed Abdikarimova.

"I thank all my coaches and teammates for helping me."

Finally, Alena Kaufman laid claim to coming away from Canada as the athlete of the week as she took her fifth gold medal, to add to a silver, in the 12.5km standing race.

The Russian underlined her dominance by registering the fastest ski time and the only clean shooting round to finish well clear of compatriot Natalia Bratiuk and Japan's Momoko Dakijima, who took bronze for the third race in succession.

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