SOCHI, March 11 (R-Sport) – Monday at the Sochi Paralympics saw Britain win its first-ever gold medal at a Winter Games, while for Canadian skier Brian McKeever, victory was positively routine as he claimed his eighth gold.
Elsewhere, Canada’s curlers slipped for the first time and host nation Russia won gold and silver in a cross-country ski race featuring just four athletes.
Skier Kelly Gallagher triumphed in the women's visually impaired super G for Britain’s first win on snow at either the Winter Olympics or Winter Paralympics.
Gallagher, 28, from Northern Ireland, and her guide Caroline Powell finished the Rosa Khutor course in 1 minute 28.72 seconds, beating Alexandra Frantseva of Russia. Britain also took bronze as Jade Etherington finished third.
"I'm so delighted. We put a lot into this, we've trained for four seasons together and it was really, really tough so it's nice to have good result from the work we put in," Gallagher told R-Sport.
International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven was delighted with his fellow Briton's achievement.
"Wahey, come on," he said. "I'm not supposed to be biased as the president of the IPC, and I'm not of course, but I'm very, very happy."
At the Laura cross-country course, McKeever blazed to an eighth career gold medal in cross-country skiing at the Paralympics on Monday, winning the 20km classic standing event at a sun-bathed Sochi course.
McKeever, 34, took the lead from Russia's Stanislav Chokhlaev at the 12km mark and defended it throughout, crossing the line in 52 minutes, 37.1 seconds.
"I needed to save my energy for the second part of the race, especially since the Russians started so quickly. They were 15, 20 seconds ahead," McKeever said, adding that the slushy snow made things even harder. "It's insanely hard to ski in these conditions."
Chokhlaev took silver with bronze for Sweden’s Zebastian Modin.
Russia won its second and third cross-country gold medals of the Sochi Paralympics with victories for Rushan Minnegulov and Elena Remizova.
The women’s 12km visually impaired event attracted just four entries after other athletes were, according to Canadian skier Margarita Gorbounova, “too chicken” to face the warm temperatures.
Remizova and her guide Natalia Yakimova were far ahead of fellow Russian Mikhalina Lysova in second and Belarusian Yadviha Skorabahataya in third. Gorbounova, a translator by trade, trailed in fourth.
In the men’s 15km standing race, Minnegulov led at every stage as he finished in a time of 50 minutes 55.1 seconds, a full 36.4 seconds ahead of second-placed Finn Ilkka Tuomisto. The bronze went to Russia’s Vladislav Lekomtsev, who won the 7.5km biathlon event on Saturday.
At the age of 42, Sweden’s Helene Ripa showed you are never too old to win your first Paralympic gold with victory in the women’s 12km standing.
Ripa, who lost her right leg to cancer at the age of 14, was 9.5 seconds off the lead with 1,300m to go at the Laura track, but produced a remarkable sprint finish to beat Ukrainian Iuliia Batenkova’s time by 3.9 seconds. The bronze went to Russia’s Anna Milenina, claiming her second medal of the Sochi Paralympics after silver in the 7.5km biathlon.
On the Alpine slopes of Rosa Khutor, two athletes won their second gold medals of the Sochi Games.
Germany's Anna Schaffelhuber, who won Saturday’s downhill, scorched to victory at the sitting super G event, leaving second-placed Claudia Loesch of Austria 2.09 seconds behind. As in the downhill event, bronze went to two-time 2006 champion Laurie Stephens of the United States.
French skier Marie Bochet won the women’s standing super G, part of a French one-two as Solene Jambaque won the silver.
"This is the third time we've had gold and silver together but the first time at the Paralympics," said Jambaque. "This is awesome to share this together. We're going to celebrate."
Russia’s Inga Medvedeva was provisionally credited with the bronze but was later disqualified after missing a gate. That promoted 18-year-old Stephanie Jallen of the United States into third place.
In the wheelchair curling tournament, Canada finally lost its unbeaten record, finishing the day with a 4-1 record, joint top of the round robin with Russia, following a 7-2 victory over the U.S. in the morning session but an 8-6 loss to Norway in the afternoon.
Slovakia came into Tuesday level with Canada on 3-0, but suffered a setback with a heavy 12-2 defeat to Britain. Both Slovakia and Britain are now 3-1.
There was no action in the sledge hockey, which resumes with the last round of group games Tuesday, which will decide the semifinal pairings.
Also Tuesday, six gold medals are on offer in the Alpine skiing super combined, with three categories each for men and women. Six more gold medals are up for grabs in the biathlon, with middle-distance races in each category – 12.5km for the men, 10km for the women.
In the curling, Canada will attempt to stay unbeaten against China in the round robin.
At the end of day three, Russia continues to lead the medal table with seven gold medals, ahead of Germany on three and Ukraine on two.
