By Paul Osborne

Claudia Loesch secured gold on the first day of the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup ©Getty ImagesOne of the biggest rivalries on the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing circuit resurfaced today as five-time Sochi gold medallist Anna Schaffelhuber and seven-time Paralympic medallist Claudia Loesch went head to head at the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Kuhtai, Austria.

Germany's Schaffelhuber was well on top of this particular battle at the Sochi Paralympics after taking home just the second ever Alpine Skiing clean sweep, behind Lauren Woolstencroft who completed the feat at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

It was a different story for local favourite Loesch on home soil, however, as she raced to first and second on her two runs to take victory in the women's slalom standing event.

Her time of 1min 55.19sec was a little over a second quicker than that of Schaffelhber in second, while Germany's Anna-Lena Forster was third.

Millie Knight, together with guide Jen Kehoe, continued her impressive start to the season with victory in the women's visually impaired slalom.

The 15-year-old is yet to lose at a Europa Cup event in the 2014/2015 season, following two wins earlier this week in Pitztal, and beat South Korea's Jae Rim Yang and guide Soo Young Lee by a whopping 14 seconds to continue that streak in Austria.

Belgium's Marie-Morgane Dessart finished in third with her time of 2:26.95 16 seconds behind that of the young British winner.

Germany's slalom Paralympic champion Andrea Rothfuss was back to winning ways on day one of the Europa Cup as she eased to victory in the women's standing, beating Russia's Mariia Papulova into second by nearly five seconds with a final time of 1:55.65.

Third went to the Netherlands' Anna Jochemsen.

Andrea Rothfuss was back to winning ways in Austria as she won gold in the women's standing event ©Getty ImagesAndrea Rothfuss was back to winning ways in Austria as she won gold in the women's standing event ©Getty Images



The closest race of the day was surely the men's standing where Croatia's Dino Sokolovic finished his two runs in 1:47.78, just 0.21 ahead of Japan's Takeshi Suzuki.

Third placed Thomas Nolte of Germany was just a second behind the two leaders as he totalled 1:48.91 following a fast second run.

Winter powerhouse Russia took the final two golds of the day as Paralympic champion Valerii Redkozubov and guide Evgeny Geroev, and Alexander Alyabyev secured victories in the men's visually impaired and standing events respectively.

Redkozubov finished his two runs in 1:41.77 to edge past Slovakia's Jakub Krako and guide Martin Motyka in second.

Third went to another Slovakian pair, Miroslav Haraus and guide Maros Hudik.

Alyabyev was quickest in both of his standing runs giving him a tight victory over home favourite Matthias Lanzinge.

Despite finishing sixth in his second run, Switzerland's Michael Bruegger held on to round off the podium.

The IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup continues through to Sunday (21 December) and over the next two days skiers will compete in giant slalom and super combined.

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