SOCHI, March 10 (R-Sport) – Russia’s Elena Remizova won a race containing just four athletes to take Paralympic gold in the women’s 15km cross-country ski event for visually impaired athletes.
Remizova’s winning time of 49 minutes 10.2 seconds was far ahead of the other three, allowing the Russian, a five-time world champion in cross-country, to claim her first career Paralympic medal.
The silver medal also went to Russia as Mikhalina Lysova, the gold medalist in Saturday’s 6km biathlon, finished 1 minute 37.3 seconds off the lead.
Forty-five-year-old Belarusian Yadviha Skorabahataya trailed in third for bronze, five minutes further back.
The only other woman in the race was Canadian Margarita Gorbounova, a Russian-born professional translator who was more than 15 minutes off the pace and nine minutes off the time set by the next-slowest competitor.
Earlier in the day, Russia’s Rushan Minnegulov won the men’s 20km standing event and Canada’s Brian McKeever the visually impaired 20km.
Helene Ripa of Sweden won her first Paralympic medal at the age of 42 after victory in the women's 15km standing race.
Paralympic cross-country events use the principle of "calculated time," under which an athlete's time is modified by a percentage reflecting the severity of their disability.
