January 24, 2015 (Cable, WI) – American Andy Soule, from Pearland, Texas, led the way for Team USA as he won silver in the men’s 7.5km sitting sprint biathlon on Day 1 of competition at the IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships on Saturday. Soule, a bronze-medalist at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Winter Games, didn’t miss a shot as he finished only five seconds behind Maksym Yarovyi of Ukraine. He closed the gap on Yarovyi by more than 10 seconds over the final lap of the race.

Andy Soule (USA) © James Netz

“I knew that I was in the running for a medal, but I didn’t know quite how it would shake out,” Soule said. “I was just really happy with not only my preparation, but everyone’s preparation with performance plans from the coaches, great waxing by the ski techs and high quality training opportunities with great teammates, and all of that built up to this moment. I’m just so happy for our team.”

Soule’s silver is the first medal he has won in world championship competition and improves on his two fourth place finishes from the 2014 Sochi Paralympic winter Games.

“We’re just really happy for Andy,” said John Farra, high performance director for U.S. Paralympics Nordic skiing. “He’s had so many biathlon races in the past few years where he has been fourth or fifth and really close to the podium. He couldn’t smile more after this race, and frankly he was smiling during the race, and that was one of our strategies for him to relax and enjoy having the opportunity to compete in the U.S. We’re really proud of Andy, and it couldn’t happen to a better guy.”

The U.S. men in the sitting biathlon sprint had a fantastic day on the range as Soule, Lt. Cmdr. Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kansas) and Bryan Price (Belton, Mo.) didn’t miss a single shot. In all, the U.S. men had only three misses out of 50 shots. Other U.S. finishers included Cnossen in seventh, Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minnesota) in 12th, Price in 16th and Augusto Perez (Syracuse, New York) in 17th. Canada’s Derek Zaplotinsky rounded out the men’s sit-ski field in 18th with a time of 31:29.6 (1+3).

Canada’s rising young star in Para-Nordic skiing, Brittany Hudak, took a major step forward in her development after posting a career-best fifth place finish in the women’s short distance biathlon race at the opening day of competition of the 2015 IPC Nordic World Skiing Championships in Cable, Wisconsin.

Discovered while working at a Canadian Tire store in her hometown of Prince Albert, Sask. by legendary Canadian Paralympian, Colette Bourgonje, the 21-year-old Hudak shot clean to clock a fifth-place time of 20 minutes, 27.8 seconds in the women’s six-kilometre standing event.

“I’m definitely happy with the result, and was surprised with my shooting,” said Hudak, who represented Canada at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. “My shooting gave me extra motivation to ski harder. This gives me a lot of confidence now going into the cross-country ski races that are coming up.”

“Brittany finishing fifth in a biathlon race, and shooting clean, is nothing short of amazing,” said Robin McKeever, head coach, Canadian Para-Nordic Ski Team. “With a little more training in the range, she will be able to shoot with the same accuracy at a quicker pace.”

Oleksandra Kononova, of the Ukraine, won the women’s standing division despite missing three shots. Kononova stopped the clock at 18:42.2 (2+1). Canada’s Para-Nordic rookie, Emily Weekes of North Vancouver, struggled with her shooting to place 12th at 28:15.4 (5+3).

It was a tough start to the elite Para-Nordic dance for two-time Paralympic biathlon medallist, Mark Arendz. The 24 year old from Hartsville, Prince Edward Island, missed one target in each of his two bouts of shooting, dropping him to sixth place with a time of 20:00.4 in the men’s 7.5-kilometre standing race. American Omar Bermejo (Grand Rapids, Michigan) finished 15th. Russia’s Vladislav Lekomtcev shot clean, setting the time to beat at 18:40.2 to capture the world championship crown in the standing division.

In the women’s sitting race, Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) finished eighth.

Results here.

With files from US Paralympics and Cross Country Canada