The discipline was due to make its Universiade debut at Erzurum 2011 but unsuitable weather conditions meant the competition had to be abandoned.

There were no such problems and Keeney took full advantage as she jumped and slid her way to victory in impressive fashion registering a score of 89.40 points.

That was enough to take the title ahead Switzerland's Fabienne Werder and third placed Souze Katia from the US.

Leinonen had the honour of being crowned the first men's champion but it was a close affair as his score of 87.60 in the final was only just good enough to see off Poland's Szczepan Karpiel with 87.00, while Janne van Enckevort of the Netherlands placed third.

There was better news for the Dutch over at the ice rink in Baselga di Pinè as Pim Cazemier took the men's 10,000 metres speed skating title, earning the first gold of Trentino 2013 for his country in the process.

Alexis Keeney (centre) celebrates receiving her gold medal in Monte Bondone today ©Daniele Mosna/Trentino 2013 Universiade


























The 24-year-old finished more than four seconds clear of South Korean Lee Jin Yeong in a time of 13min 44.19sec, while the bronze went to Russian Evgeny Seryaev.

"That's my first important international medal," Cazemier said.

"Today it was a fantastic race, with a great time.

"I'd like to dedicate my gold medal to my parents.

"My idol is the great Dutch champion Sven Kramer [Vancouver 2010 gold medal winner].

"I hope to follow his example and soon to be able to compete in the World Cup."

It was silver and bronze again for South Korea and Russia in the women's 1,000m final as 500m champion Kim Hyun Yung came second this time, with Angelina Golikova third, behind Miho Takagi of Japan who posted an impressive time of 1:19:59 to take gold.

At the Palaghiaccio in Trento, South Korea topped the podium in the men's short track 1,500m skating event with Noh Jin-Kyu taking the title, while the women's crown was claimed by China's Jiaying Tao.

Ski jumpers Aleksander Zniszczoł, Bartłomiej Kłusek and Krzysztof Biegun contributed to a great day of success for Poland at Trentino 2013 ©Pierre Teyssot/Trentino 2013 Universiade


























Poland's Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel claimed the women's giant slalom gold at Pozza di Fassa as her time of 1:50.99 was enough to see her clear of Austria's Michelle Morik and Sweden's Elaine Veronica Smedh.

"I'm the happiest person in the world," said Gąsienica-Daniel.

"It's a very important victory and I want to dedicate it to all the people who are close to me.

"First of all, to my sister, the first I hugged after crossing the finish line.

"It wasn't an easy race, this course was really demanding, but I managed to stay focused and find the right pace."

There was also Polish celebrations in Lago di Tesero as the trio of Szczepan Kupczak, Paweł Słowiok and Adam Cieślar prevailed in the Nordic combined Gundersen team event.

Slovenia's Borut Mavc, Jože Kamenik and Matic Plaznik took silver with the Japanese trio of Go Yamamoto, Shota Horigome and Aguri Shimizu rounding out the podium.

And the gold medal rush for Poland did not stop there as over in Val di Fiemme yet another team title was secured, this time in the HS106 ski jumping competition.

A total score of 755.5 points snagged top spot on the podium for Aleksander Zniszczoł, Bartłomiej Kłusek and Krzysztof Biegun, who finished comfortably clear of Russian trio Roman Sergeevich Trofimov, Alexander Sardyko and Mikhail Maksimochkin in second place and Austria's Daniel Huber, David Unterberger and Clemens Aigner in third.

However, the day would not be complete without a gold medal for the dominant nation so far at this Winter Universiade and so it proved as the Russian mixed relay team of Larisa Kuznetsova, Tatiana Semenova, Sergei Kliachin and Aleksandr Pechenkin claimed their country's 12th gold medal at Trentino 2013, in the biathlon event.

Ukrainians Iryna Varvynets, Iana Bondar, Vitaliy Kilchytskyy and Dmytro Pidruchny finished a distant second, while the Czech quartet of Jitka Landová, Kristyna Cerna, Michal Zak and Tomas Krupcik took the bronze.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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