SOCHI, March 11 (R-Sport) – Russia dominated day four of the Sochi Paralympics on Tuesday, beating the U.S. in a sledge hockey thriller and winning four gold medals on the biathlon track.
The host nation enjoyed its joint most successful day of the Games so far in terms of medals, opening up a huge lead at the top of the overall standings, with 11 gold medals against four for second-placed Germany and 34 total medals.
The 2-1 win over the U.S. in hockey at the Shayba Arena came loaded with significance amid political battles over Ukraine’s future and following the fallout of the Americans’ controversial 3-2 victory over Russia at last month’s Olympic hockey tournament.
Despite being outshot 23-9, luck and a lights-out game by acrobatic goaltender Vladimir Kamantsev took the Russians to a win that ensures they qualify as Group B winners, setting up a semifinal against Norway. The U.S. also qualifies but must face Group A winner Canada, which beat the Czech Republic 1-0 earlier in the day.
"We played today like a living organism," said Kamantsev, who stopped 22 of 23 shots in acrobatic style. "It's a super victory and now there's a feeling of pleasure that we beat the Americans, especially on our soil."
At the Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex in the mountains above Sochi, Russia repeated its four-gold dominance from Saturday.
Roman Petushkov, fast becoming the face of host nation success at the Sochi Paralympics, won his third gold medal of the Games in the men’s 12.5km sitting race, while Alyona Kaufman and Mikhalina Lysova became two-time gold medalists with wins in the women’s 10km standing and visually impaired events respectively. The other Russian winner was 18-year-old Azat Karachurin in then men’s 12.5km standing.
In the other events, Germany’s Anja Wicker picked the right time to shoot clean for the first time in competition as she swept to victory in the women’s 10km sitting, while Vitaly Lukyanenko won gold for Ukraine in the men’s 12.5km visually impaired event.
There were also due to be six gold medals awarded Tuesday in Alpine skiing, but those will now wait until Friday after heavy fog forced the postponement of the first element of the super combined, the super G at Rosa Khutor.
The slalom component was still run, however, meaning six athletes enter Friday’s rescheduled super G as gold medal favorites.
Just three athletes remain in the women’s visually impaired category, where Russia’s Alexandra Frantseva leads Britain’s Jade Etherington and veteran Danelle Umstead of the United States. The other three athletes in the class all fell or were disqualified.
France’s Marie Bochet in the standing class and Germany’s Anna Schaffelhuber in the sitting are both on course for their third gold medals of the Games. Among the men, Russians Valery Redkozubov and Alexei Bugaev lead the visually impaired and standing classes respectively, while Roman Rabl of Austria heads the charts in the sitting category.
The wheelchair curling continued without major shocks as Russia and Canada remained top of the round robin on 5-1 records, with Britain third on 4-2. China, Norway and Slovakia are all on 3-3 records as they fight for the fourth and last semifinal place. All teams have three more games to play.
On Wednesday, three medals are up for grabs at Rosa Khutor in the women’s slalom, while Laura sees six medal events in the cross-country skiing 1km sprints, with three categories each for men and women. At the Ice Cube Curling Center, Slovakia faces a daunting day with games against both of the leading teams - Canada in the morning and Russia in the afternoon session.
Behind dominant leader Russia and second-placed Germany, third place in the medal table is held by Ukraine on three gold medals. Austria, Japan, France and Slovakia follow with two each.
