January 30, 2015 (Cable, WI) – Andy Soule won his fourth medal of the week as he took second in the men’s sitting long distance biathlon event at the International Paralympic Committee Nordic Skiing World Championships. Russian Alexey Bychenok (46:31.2) returned to the top of the podium in the men’s sitting thanks to his sharp shooting. Russian Grigory Murygin (47:15.4) missed one shot on his third trip to the range, forcing him into bronze.

USA's Andy Soule © James Netz

Soule (Pearland, Texas), an Army veteran and 2010 Paralympic medalist, didn’t miss a single shot as he led the way for an excellent day in the range for Team USA. The U.S. men only had four misses out of 60 shots.

“I just took it one step at a time, one shot at a time, one quarter at a time and one hill at a time,” Soule said. “I’m so proud of our how our entire team has done here.”

Soule’s teammate Navy Lt. Cmdr. Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kansas) recorded his best biathlon result of the week as he finished fifth. Bryan Price (Belton, Missouri) was 12th, while Omar Bermejo (Grand Rapids, Michigan) finished 14th in the men’s standing race.

Dan Cnossen © Peter Graves

“From a team perspective, we are all gaining energy and excitement from not only Andy’s medals, but from the great results all around,” said John Farra, high performance director for U.S. Paralympics Nordic skiing. “We’ve enjoyed competing here at home, and today’s performances set us up really nicely for tomorrow’s final individual cross-country races.”

Paralympic champion Ukrainian Oleksandra Kononova (38:21.4) stormed to victory over 12.5km, putting herself on top of the podium for an incredible fifth time in both cross-country and biathlon women’s standing events. “[They] are two different sports so the preparation is different,” Kononova said.

“Before this biathlon [race] I was trying to calm down, to get the thoughts in order and prepare mentally for this race.” Compatriot Liudmyla Liashenko (39:10.3) claimed silver. Finland’s Maija Jarvela (41:34.6) missed just one target on the day to take bronze.

Her compatriot Ihor Reptuykh (39:23.9) shot clean in the men’s 15km standing event to make it a double gold for Ukraine. Russian Vladislav Lekomtcev (39:28.7) had his bid for a third biathlon gold medal at Cable 2015 dashed as he took silver. France’s Benjamin Daviet (39:42.0) shot perfectly to finish with the bronze.

Russia charged to another podium sweep in the women’s sitting event, with Marta Zaynullina (45:31.4) claiming her first gold to beat Paralympic champion teammate Svetlana Konovalova (45:51.8). Natalia Kocherova (45:53.0) took bronze to earn her first medal of the competition.

Nikolay Polukhin (41:17.8) and guide Andrey Tokarev claimed their third gold medal for Russia in the men’s visually impaired. Fellow countrymen Stanislav Chokhlaev (41:35.3), guided by Evgenii Fatkhullin, took the silver. Ukraine’s Iurii Utkin (44:00.7) and guide Vitalii Kazakov completed the podium.

Russia’s Iuliia Budaleeva (40:29.0), guided by Tatiana Maltseva, claimed the women’s gold for the third straight biathlon race. They were joined on the podium by compatriot Elena Remizova (42.26.9) and guide Maksim Pirogov, who fought their way to silver.

Ukraine’s Olga Prylutska (42:31.1), guided by Borys Babar, took bronze to round out the podium.

The competition continues on Saturday (31 January) with the middle distance cross-country races.