Paralympics in Sochi: seven medals and ours are the best again

The Russian Paralympic team continues to lead with confidence at the Paralympic Games in Sochi. Today, the skiers added seven medals to the Russian team, bringing it further away from its opponents. At the end of the third day at the Paralympics 2014, the Russian team has 24 awards: seven gold medals, ten silver and seven bronze. The German national team, ranked second in the team standings has three gold medals. In third position is the Ukrainian team, with two gold medals and a total of seven.

Today, gold medals were won by skiers Rushan Minnegulov (20km standing) and Elena Remizova (15 km visually impaired). Skiers Aleksandra Frantseva (Super Giant Slalom visually impaired ), as well as skiers Stanislav Chohlaev (20 km visually impaired) and Mikhalina Lysova (15 km visually impaired) won silver medals. Bronze medals went to skiers Vladislav Lekomtsev (20km standing) and Anna Milenina (15km standing).
In skiing in the sport complex "Roza Khutor" women played for medals in the Super Giant Slalom in three categories - "standing,","sitting" and " visually impaired." One of the favorites among the visually impaired was the Russian Aleksandra Frantseva, who in 2013 won the world championship in Super-G. Eventually she lost the first position to the Irishwoman Kelly Gallagher. Later Frantseva admitted that she “missed the gold medal":  “I expected to ride better. But you never know what will happen at the Paralympics. I have a sense of accomplishment, but not fully," R-Sport cites the athlete.

In the category of "standing", the experienced Russian Inga Medvedeva, who had previously won silver in the downhill at the Paralympics 2014, led on the distance and at the end of the first track made a mistake, missing the last gate. Immediately her disqualification was announced, and thus she lost a bronze medal. This competition was won by the Frenchwoman Marie Boucher, which was already her second gold medal in Sochi. Her compatriot Solène Jambaqué became the silver medalist.

In the category of "sitting " in the super-G, the Russians did not participate. The Paralympics champion became the German skier Anna Shafelhuber. As in previous days, several skiers were injured in the Super-G slalom and were quickly taken from the track directly by helicopter to Krasnaya Polyana Hospital.

The Ski Stadium "Laura" hosted four long distance races for both men and women, and the Russians were among the winners in each of them. Russia's first gold on the third day was won by Rushan Minnegulov in the classic style ski race for 20 km in the category of "standing" with the result of 50 minutes 55.1 seconds. The bronze medal in this race was won by the Russian Vladislav Lekomtsev. Second place was taken by the Finnish skier Ilkka Tuomisto .

In the race for the 20 km classic style for men with impaired vision, Stanislav Chohlaev won silver with a score of 53 minutes 43.3 seconds, yielding to Canadian Brian McKeever with his 1 minute 6.2 seconds. "Sure, I wanted to beat McKeever, but failed. He was stronger. But we fought and did everything we could. I am quite pleased with  second place.  This is just the beginning, we will try to bring victories," Chohlaev said.

In the race for the 15 km classic style for women in the category of “standing” Anna Milenina won bronze with a score of 51 minutes 27.3 seconds. She yielded 1 minute 38.1 seconds to the winner, the Swede Helena Ripa. Ukrainian Yulia Batenkova became silver medalist. "From the beginning I kept everything under control. I felt I was in good shape today," said Ripa after the victory.

At the distance of 15 km classic style for women with visual impairment, Russians won two medals. Gold was won by Elena Remizova, who showed a result of 49 minutes 10.2 seconds, and silver went to Mikhalina Lysova, who yielded to Elena 1 minute 37.3 seconds. Belarus skier Jadwiga Skorobogataya took the bronze medal. Earlier, Lysova won gold in biathlon at 6km.

The wheelchair curling Russian team also showed good results. Our curlers won two important victories: over the teams of South Korea (7:5) and the U.S. (6:5). The Russian team took second position in the group. The competition hosts have four victories and one loss, just like the leading Canadians. All the remaining games will have a key meaning for the team: everything will be decided in the remaining matches.