March 13, 2010 (Whistler, BC) – The USA’s Andy Soule

(Pearland, Texas) scored  historic bronze in the men’s 2.4km Pursuit Sitting,  winning the first-ever medal for the U.S. Paralympic Biathlon team and the first U.S. medal of the 2010 Paralympic Games on Saturday. The event was won by Russian biathlete Irek Zaripov in 9:51.00 who celebrated the first gold medal of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, followed by Iurii Kostiuk of Ukraine who took the silver. Canada’s Lou Gibson, 45, of Langley, B.C., finished in 23rd.

Soule, a retired U.S. Army veteran of Operation Enduring

Freedom, came from behind in the final race to win the bronze. “After I passed [Sergey] Shilov, I just hammered it and didn’t look back,” said Soule. “It felt just incredible. I’ve had World Cup wins and World Cup podiums before, but there’s nothing quite like this – in this atmosphere, in front of the crowd here with everyone watching.”

Four Canadians made the top 10 in Saturday’s co

mpetitons including top Olympians Brian and guide Robin McKeever who were 6th in the 3km pursuit won by the Ukraine’s Volodymyr Ivanov guided by Vitaliy Lukyanenko. Robbi Weldon and her guide Brian Berry, both of Thunder Bay, Ont., matched the McKeevers for the top Canadian result of the day also finishing sixth in the women’s visually impaired category.

Mark Arendz, of Springton, P.E.I., overcame opening race jitters to post a seventh-place finish in the men’s standing 3km category.  In the women’s standing 3km pursuit, USA’s Kelly Underkofler (St. Paul, Minn.) finished in ninth place with a time of 14:39.0 behind Russia’s Anna Burmistrova who won the gold with a time of 11:24.01 . Jody Barber, of Smithers, B.C., squeaked into the top-10 finishing three minutes 17.1 seconds off Burmistrova in her opening Paralympic race.

“It was a great race for Andy,” added US Paralympic Nordic Team Greg Rawlings after the competition. “He went into it with a great attitude and just started reeling people in. He missed one and went around the penalty loop, but didn’t stress it. He just kept going and cleaned it on the final. I think his brain switched right there and he figured out that he was in the game. He was able to pick people off one at a time until he was at the line.”

Complete results here.

With files from Cross Country Canada and US Biathlon.