VUOKATTI, Finland — Canada's Mark Arendz recovered from a difficult start on the shooting range to win his second straight biathlon gold medal on Friday at the Para-Nordic World Cup
Arendz's gold in the men's 10-kilometre standing event was one of three Canadian medals in different biathlon disciplines.
Britany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., earned silver in the women's 10-kilometre standing event and Christina Picton of Fonthill, Ont., took second in the women's sit-ski competition.
Missing three out of his first 10 shots on the range, the 32-year-old Arendz from Hartstville, P.E.I., calmed things down in the back half of the race to take top spot on the 10-kilometre biathlon podium in the standing classification with a time of 28 minutes 30.4 seconds.
Shooting clean in his final 10 shots and skiing fast, Arendz held off the field in his five laps around the Vuokatti Nordic venue.
“That was a tough start to the race,” said the 11-time Paralympic medallist, who had to ski a 150-metre penalty loop for each missed shot. “I wasn’t as focused as I needed to be on the range.
"I had some harsh words to myself when I was doing my second and third penalty loops to turn this race around.”
Ukraine's Grygorii Vovchynskyi skied to silver in 28:42.4 (2+0+0+0). France's Benjamin Daviet clocked a time of 29:36.8 (1+0+1+1).
Hudak earned her third straight silver medal, and second in biathlon, in the women’s 10-kilometre standing competition.
Hudak missed just one of her 20 shots. The experienced three-time Paralympian skied steady to post a time of 32:05.2 (0+1+0+0).
Ukraine's Liudmyla Liashenko held onto the gold medal despite missing three shots, skiing to a time of 31:51.6 (1+1+1+0). Bohdana Konashuk, also from Ukraine, finished with a time of 33:47.7 (1+1+1+2).
Picton grabbed her fourth medal of the World Cup opener, posting a second-place time of 43:29.2 in the women’s sit-ski competition. She was forced to ski a 100-metre penalty loop twice for two missed shots in her four stops at the range.
Germany’s Anja Wicker won gold in a time of 36:58.4 (2+1+0+2). Korea’s Yunji Kim was third at 43:38.6 (2+0+0+1).
A missed shot in his final round of shooting cost Derek Zaplotinsky, of Smoky Lake, Alta., a spot on the men’s sit-ski podium. The 37-year-old skied to a time of 34:59.0 (0+0+0+1).
Kazakhstan's Yerbol Khamitov won the gold with a time of 32:37.0 (2+0+0+0). Ukraine's Taras Rad was second at 33:41.6 (0+1+1+0), while his teammate Oleksandr Aleksyk topped Zaplotinsky for the bronze medal, posting a time of 34:59.0.
The opening Para-Nordic World Cup stop of the season continues on Saturday with the team sprint event.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2022.
The Canadian Press
