January 30, 2012 (Cable, WI) – Canada’s Mark Arendz came up just shy in his bid to win his fifth IPC Biathlon World Cup medal of the season after finishing fourth in the men’s 12.5-kilometre race on Sunday in Cable, Wisconsin, while Sean Halsted landed the top U.S. result with an eighth-place finish.

The 21-year-old Arendz, who snagged the bronze medal in Saturday’s 20-kilometre race, skied a consistent 12.5 kilometres and shot clean in each of his four stops on the range to finish one spot off the podium with a time of 38:55.0.

“It turned out to be a ‘What can you do’ kind of day,” said Arendz. Yesterday there were an number of mistakes that kept adding up but today everything was bang on. I was back in the proper mindset and had all cylinders burning and was ready to go. I was very happy with the skiing effort.”

Arendz, of Springton, P.E.I. had one of his best days ever on the range with shots hitting the target dead centre.

“The shooting felt as natural as a ski stride, it flowed harmoniously with the skiing,” said Arendz. “Nothing went wrong today, it just wasn’t my day. I was happier with my race today, finishing fourth, than I was of my race yesterday.”

Russian athletes grabbed the top-two spots on the podium. Kirill Mikhaylov finished on top with a time of 37:24.0, while Vladislav Lekomtev was second at 38:08.3. Norway’s Nils-Erik Ulset rounded out the podium in third at 38:40.7.

Ottawa’s Margarita Gorbounova and her guide of Brian Berry, of Thunder Bay, Ont., were the only other Canadians to suit up on Sunday, finishing seventh in the women’s 10-kilometre visually impaired category with a time of 55:37.4.

U.S. Athletes Crack Top 10 in Long-course
A sub-par performance Saturday during the biathlon short-course was all the motivation sit-skier and Air Force veteran Sean Halsted (Spokane, Wash.) needed to break into the top 10 finishers in the long-course biathlon today during the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Nordic Skiing World Cup at the Telemark Lodge in Cable, Wis.

“My performance yesterday wasn’t up to what I had hoped,” said Halsted, who had placed 13th with only 50 percent accuracy on the shooting range. Today he hit 17 of his 20 shots and covered the 12.5-kilometer course in 49 minutes, 47 seconds to finish eighth.

Navy SEAL Lt. Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kan.) rallied from misses during his first two rounds of shooting to shoot flawlessly the rest of the race and finish 10th in 50:15 in the sit-ski division. He connected on 18 of his 20 shots.

“I knew if I didn’t bring it together, the race was going to go downhill fast,” he said.

Roman Petushkov of Russia, who won Saturday’s shot-course biathlon, repeated as sit-ski champion in 44:51, despite missing four shots on the day. For each missed target, athletes had to ski a 150-meter penalty loop, which added to their times.

Kelly Underkofler (St. Paul, Minn.) continued her strong showing in the shooting range, connecting on 19 of her 20 shots, just missing the podium with her fourth-place finish in the women’s standing division in 50:32. Finland’s Maija Jarvela claimed her second biathlon gold of the competition, finishing in 40:54 over the 10 km. women’s course.

“I felt good and shot well, so I’m happy with how I did today,” Underkofler said.

Sarah Edwards (Winter Park, Colo.) placed fifth in the women’s sit-ski division in 1:29:31. German Anja Wicker improved on her second-place finish from the day before to win in 50:18.

Russians continued to dominate the visually-impaired division. Lysova Mikhalina led a quartet of top Russian finishers in the women’s race, shooting flawlessly and finishing in 37:33. Russians claimed the top two spots on the men’s side, led by Nikolay Polukhin in 37:42. Visually-impaired athletes shoot with specialized guns fitted with lasers on their sites that emit audio feedback as the shooter’s aim closes in on a screen target.

Russian Kirill Mikhaylov won the men’s standing division in 37:24.

Athletes conclude the Wisconsin-portion of the competition Monday with middle distance races. Races start at 10 a.m. with sit-skiers skiing 5 km and standing and visually-impaired athletes skiing 10 km.

Competition concludes Feb. 1-2 at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, where athletes will compete in a sprint and middle distance race. Races begin at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 1 and 10 a.m. Feb. 2.

It’s the first time the United States has hosted a major Paralympic Nordic ski event in seven years.

Results HERE.

April 08, 2011 (Khanty Mansiysk, Russia) – The Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team continued its podium surge at the IPC Cross-Country Skiing World Championships adding another gold and silver medal in the men’s sprint races on Friday in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

Brian McKeever, of Canmore, Alta., and his new guide Erik Carleton, of Calgary, continued their dominance of the men’s visually impaired category by handily winning the sprint event. A 10-time Paralympic medallist, McKeever posted the fastest qualifying time and rolled through the head-to-head heats until the final where he was matched up against two strong Russian teams.

With skiers provided a time advantage off the line based on their level of disability, it becomes a game of cat and mouse for McKeever who is forced to hunt down the other athletes on the sprint loop as the fastest skiers start well back. McKeever caught the three teams in front of him just prior to the finishing stretch where he pulled away to win by four seconds.

“The stress of para-nordic sprint racing for me is not whether or not we are faster than other skiers, but whether we can pass three other competitors and their guides,” said McKeever who executed his tactics perfectly with Carleton leading the way. “The course is tight, narrow and the conditions were difficult today so I’m happy we were able to do that. Erik is skiing great and things are going really well.”

McKeever and Carleton were sandwiched on the podium by two Russian teams. Nikolay Polukhin and Andrey Tokarev captured the silver medal, while Alexei Toropov and his guide, Sergey Maksimov, sprinted to the bronze-medal position on the podium.

The track to the podium continued for the Canadians in the men’s sit-ski race where Chris Klebl powered his way to the silver medal.

Klebl, who resides in Canmore, Alta. followed up his historic sit-ski race on Wednesday when he won the nation’s first-ever gold medal in the distance event, with a silver medal in a hard-fought sprint competition Friday.

The two-time Paralympian qualified for the final despite breaking a pole in the semi-finals, which forced him to ski with one pole. Klebl accomplished the feat and punched his ticket into the final by edging out the French skier in a photo finish.

Klebl managed to stay out of trouble in the final where two Russian skiers got tangled up at the beginning of the .9-kilometre loop to win the silver medal.

Norway’s Trygve Steinar Larsen won the gold medal, while Russia’s Irek Zaripov won the battle for the bronze.

Saskatoon’s Colette Bourgonje was the only other Canadian to suit up on Friday. Bourgonje, who won the gold in the women’s sit-ski race on Wednesday, qualified for the heats, but her quest for the podium came to an end when she finished fourth in her semi-final.

Canada has teamed up to win five gold medals and one silver at the 2011 IPC World Championships.

Results HERE.