March 20, 2015 (Surnadal, Norway) – US Paralympian and Navy SEAL Lt. Cmdr. Dan Cnossen came away with silver in the men’s biathlon pursuit sitting race on day four of the 2015 IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup finals. It was Cnossen’s first time on the podium at this world cup final.

The starting positions in biathlon pursuit are based on the participants’ finishes in the biathlon sprint competition. Cnossen finished sixth in sprint but his competitiveness kicked into overdrive and he made up four positions throughout the event.

Dan Cnossen © John Farra

Clean shooting helped Russia’s Alexey Bychenok (41:43.8) claim the victory. Belarus’ Dzmitry Loban (42:46.2) was third while Team USA’s Paralympic bronze medalist Andy Soul held onto his fourth place position.

Canada’s Mark Arendz won his second straight biathlon bronze, making it a six-pack for the Canadians heading into the final weekend of the World Cup finals in Norway.

“There was a lot of misses shooting today which highlighted the race,” said Arendz, who missed three shots in four rounds of shooting. “It was a very tight race and many lead changes throughout the day. It was a great race for me, especially a strong finishing lap that moved me into podium position despite my difficulties shooting.”

Russia’s Vladislav Lekomtcev (35:31.4) secured his second successive win of the event in the men’s standing despite dropping three shots while Ukraine’s Grygorii Vovchynskyi (25:58.2) came second.

Mark Arendz © CCC

Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova, a winner of all three biathlon world titles earlier this year, suffered a rare defeat at the hands of teammate Liudmyla Liashenko.

Six individual biathlon pursuit events took place on the third day of competition, and Liashenko’s win was just one of two not claimed by Russian athletes.

Accurate shooting was the key behind Liashenko’s surprise win in the women’s standing event.  The 21-year-old (30:40.1) missed just one shot all race whilst Kononova (33:19.3) still managed to secure second despite seven dropped shots. Japan’s Yurika Abe (36:43.6) was third.

Kononova’s loss meant Russia’s Iuliia Budaleeva, guided by Tatiana Maltseva, was the only athlete to maintain a 100 per cent record at the World Cup Finals.

Budaleeva (33:10.5) topped the podium in the women’s visually impaired race and was joined by Ukrainian athletes Olga Prylutska, guided by Borys Babar (34:10.5), and Oksana Shyshkova, guided by Lada Nesterenko (34:45.5) in second and third respectively.

The men’s visually impaired race saw the same three podium finishers as Wednesday’s biathlon sprint race, but with the first and third placed finishers swapping places.

Nikolay Polukhin and guide Andrey Tokarev (39:22.9) took the win ahead of Ukraine’s Anatolii Kovalevski and guide Oleksandr Mukshyn (40:04.8) who again finished second; both athletes dropped just one shot.  Wednesday’s winners Stanislav Chokhlaev and guide Evgenii Fatkhullin (40:28.9) had to settle for third.

The only other non-Russian winner on Friday was Germany’s Anja Wicker who also claimed a win on Wednesday.  The 23-year-old did not drop a shot to lead home Russia’s Natalia Kocherova (40:30.8) in second and Belarus’ Lidziya Hrafeyeva (42:54.1) in third.

Cross-Country skiing takes centre stage on March 21 at the IPC World Cup Finals. The final biathlon race will be held Sunday, March 22.

For complete results from today’s competition click here.