December 16, 2014 – Russian skiers once again dominated competition on the fifth day of the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup in Vuokatti, Finland, on Tuesday (16 December) winning three out of the four biathlon sprint races.

Oksana Masters (USA) © Pam Doyle file photo

In cloudy, sub-zero degrees conditions, Stanislav Chokhlaev and guide Evgenii Fatkhullin (21:09.8) maintained their 100 per cent record of podium finishes in Vuokatti by winning the men’s visually impaired race over 7.5km.

Despite dropping two shots, the pair – who also won Saturday’s 10km cross-country race – held off teammates and clean shooters Nikolay Polukhin and guide Andrey Tokarev (21:31.5) into second. Third place was claimed by Ukraine’s Iaroslav Reshetynskiy and guide Artur Gergardt (21:44.0).

Ivan Golubkov (22:40.3) dropped one shot but still had enough to win the men’s sitting sprint race, completing a hat-trick of wins after success in Saturday’s 10km cross-country race and Sunday’s cross-country sprint.

His teammate Aleksandr Davidovich (23:20.4) took second place, ahead of Germany’s Martin Fleig (23:46.8) in third. Both skiers dropped one shot each.

Clean shooting helped Russia’s Marta Zaynullina (21:27.3) claim her second women’s sitting 6km biathlon sprint win in six days. After winning last Wednesday’s sprint, the 24-year-old has now won four out of the five races so far in Vuokatti.

The USA’s Oksana Masters (21:48.2) – the winner of Sunday’s cross-country sprint – and Germany’s Anja Wicker (22:27.1) both shot clean to finish in second and third.

The only non-Russian winner of the day was Ukraine’s Oksana Shyshkova and guide Lada Nesterenko in the women’s visually impaired race, an event which also saw one of her teammates make the podium.

Thanks to not dropping a shot, the pair (20:00.8) secured their third win out of five races in Vuokatti and finished ahead of Russia’s Iuliia Budaleeva and guide Tatiana Maltseva (20:04.4) in second. Ukraine’s Olga Prylutska and guide Borys Babar (21:32.9) came third.

Competition in Vuokatti will conclude on Wednesday (17 December) with the men’s and women’s biathlon sprint races for standing skiers.

More than 100 skiers from 12 countries are in Vuokatti for the first World Cup event of the 2014/2015 season. In just over one month’s time, all eyes will be on Cable, USA, when it stages the IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships between 23 January and 1 February.

Results

Women
Men

Full calendar and results here.