December 15, 2013 (Canmore, AB) – Russian athletes continued to show why they will be the ones to beat at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games by taking 15 out of 18 possible podium positions on the first day of biathlon competition at the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup in Canmore, Canada.

After proving their metal in the cross country events earlier in the week, Russian athletes excelled in Saturday’s (14 December) calm conditions to win gold in all six events in the short course biathlon.

Daniel Cnossen © Pam Doyle

In the first race of the day – the men’s sitting 7.5km – the top three men all shot clean so the race came down to who had the fastest skis. Russia’s Irek Zaripov (21:54.4) won the contest ahead of Japan’s Kozo Kubo in second (22:03.3). Zaripov’s teammate Aliaksandr Davidovich was third (22:13.2).

The USA’s Daniel Cnossen was 9th and Andrew Soule was 11th with Travis Dodson claiming 13th. Jeremy Wagner was 15th, Sean Halsted was 16th, Aaron Pike was 17th, Augusto Jose Perez was 18th and David Poole was 19th – no Canadians competed.

Kubo was satisfied with his silver medal performance. “Canmore is a very good venue for competitions. Today’s course was very high speed with not too many difficult sections,” said Kubo who won two silver medals and a bronze at this year’s World Championships in Sweden.

The women’s sitting 6km was an all-Russian affair with thrillingly close finish.  Aided by no missed shots, Marta Zaynullina (22:20.8) took gold fractionally ahead of Svetlana Konovalove (22:21.4). One dropped shot by Nadezda Andreeva (23:04.2) meant she could only finish third. The USA’s Oksana Masters was seventh while teammate Beth Requist was 8th.

Russia took two podium places in both the men’s and women’s standing races. Azat Karachurin (19:17.1) took gold win the men’s 7.5km race, whilst his teammate Kirill Mikhaylow (19:56.4) won the bronze. Splitting them was Norway’s Nils-Erik Ulset (19:47.0) who claimed silver.

Mark Arendz (Can) © Pam Doyle

Canada’s Mark Arendz, 23, began his march to Sochi with a sixth-place finish in the men’s 7.5km race at the first-ever IPC World Cup in Canmore, Alta. The Springton, P.E.I. native, who finished first overall on the IPC World Cup biathlon standings last year, missed two shots in his rounds of shooting on the range in the men’s standing division. The USA’s Omar Bermejo was 12th followed by John Oman in 13th with Canada’s Louis Fortin in 14th.

“Tough day today. I didn’t feel as good on the course as I did in the two cross-country days this week,” said Arendz. “I just didn’t quite have the speed on the course and the two misses in shooting didn’t help. I really wanted the result today, and just put too much pressure on to get it. We’ll change things a bit for tomorrow and just put the focus on the shooting and hope for a better day.”

C Bisson (CAN) shooting © Pam Doyle

In the women’s 6km race, Russia’s Alena Kaufman (18:26.3) took gold with no dropped shots ahead of teammate Natalia Bratiuk (19:05.1) who would have finished closer had she not dropped a shot. Bronze went to Japan’s Momoko Dekijima (20.10.0). Canada’s C. Bisson finished 6th.

In both the men’s and women’s VI category all six podium finishes went to Russia despite gusty winds making for tricky shooting conditions.

Nikolay Polukhin (19:34.9), a winner of four world titles earlier this year, took gold in the men’s 7.5km. Despite missing one target, he still had enough quality to take gold ahead of Vladimir Uldaltcov (19:56.1) who was aided in securing silver by clean shooting. Stanislav Chokhlaev (20:22.2) relied on his skiing ability with three missed targets to grab the bronze.

J Adicoff shooting © Pam Doyle

The USA’s J Adicoff with guide Reid Pletcher was 8th while K. Burton with guide Greg Rawlings was 1oth.

There was a small shock in the women’s 6.5km when nine-time world champion Mikhalina Lysova (19:16.7) could only manage silver despite shooting clean. Gold went to Iuliia Budaleeva (18:134.7) who missed one shot but still finished with the fastest time. Elena Remizova ( 20.45.3) relied on her skiing ability to land third place as her shooting was off today with five penalties. The USA’s S. Chesire with guide Jesse Crandall was 6th.

Competition continues on Sunday with the middle distance biathlon events.

Full results here.