Para Nordic World Cup Finals – The Canadians undeniably very successful at home

Following the Para Biathlon World Championships, the Para Nordic season came to an end with the World Cup finals. After the cold, athletes raced their last kilometers in warm, spring conditions in Prince George (CAN).

Para Biathlon World Cup Finals

The biathlon season concluded first with a 10km middle competition. To start off the day, the sitting men’s class were on the course first. Taras Rad of Ukraine finished in first place, making no errors in any of his visits to the range. Finishing in second was Zixu Liu of China and Vasyl Kravchuk in third. Coming into this last race, Rad was leading in the World Cup Overall Rankings. His victory secured his win of this biathlon season’s Crystal Globe.

The sitting women were up next, with four athletes competing. Anja Wicker of Germany started the day third in the World Cup Rankings but was able to win the event and the Crystal Globe. Americans Kendall Gretsch and Oksana Masters, who were leading the rankings in first and second place, respectively, were not at the start.

After a successful World Championships, Mark Arendz was able to continue his dominance by winning the standing men’s event and the Crystal Globe.

Behind Arendz on the podium was Serhii Romaniuk of Ukraine in second and Marco Maier of Germany in third.

Liudmyla Liashenko of Ukraine added to her three golds and one silver from the previous week, winning the women’s standing competition. She also won this season’s Crystal Globe. Rounding out the podium were her fellow teammates, Bohdana Konashuk and Oleksandra Kononova, in second and third place, respectively.

To end the day, the vision impaired athletes were up next. First was the men’s category, in which Oleksandr Kazik (UKR) and guide Serhii Kucheriavyi (UKR) claimed top spot on the podium. Kazik’s compatriot Dmytro Suiarko (UKR) won the silver medal with guide Oleksandr Nikonovych (UKR). Nico Messinger of Germany won the bronze with guide Robin Wunderle (GER). Kazik is this season’s Crystal Globe winner of the Men Vision Impaired category, adding to two golds and a bronze won at the World Championships.

The final competition of the day saw Germany sweep the women’s vision impaired podium. Linn Kazmaier (GER) and guide Florian Baumann (GER) won the gold medal. In second place was Leonie Maria Walter (GER) with guide Christian Krasman (GER), and in third was Johanna Recktenwald (GER) with guide Pirmin Strecker (GER). Kazmaier was awarded the Crystal Globe to conclude the biathlon World Cup season.

Text retrieved from IBU

Para Cross-Country World Cup Finals

The efforts made during the Para Biathlon World Championships did not prevent the formidable teams of Germany, Ukraine, and Canada from continuing to perform at the highest level throughout the Para Cross-Country World Cup Finals. Other nations, such as Brazil and Japan, also showed impressive performances.

In the absence of her American rivals Oksana Masters and Kendall Gretsch, both of whom returned home to prepare for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Anja Wicker (GER) perfectly assumed her role as the favorite in the Women Sitting category by winning the last three races of the Para Cross-Country season. In the 5km Individual Start, she emerged victorious ahead of Yunji KIM (KOR), 2nd, and Aline Dos Santos Rocha (BRA), 3rd – her first World Cup podium of the season. The same podium lineup was repeated two days later in the sprint. In the 20km Mass Start, Aline Dos Santos Rocha finished 2nd behind the German leader, and Christina Picton (CAN) secured her first World Cup podium of the season by joining them in 3rd place. At the end of this final day, thanks to these three victories, Anja Wicker (GER) claimed the overall category Women Sitting World Cup title with 792 points. Oksana Masters (USA) finished 2nd in the standings with 530 points earned earlier in the season, and thanks to strong results at the Prince George Finals (CAN) (7th, 6th, and 5th), the 3rd place went to Lyne-Marie Bilodeau (CAN) with 493 points, just one point ahead of Kendall Gretsch (USA).

In the Women Vision Impaired category, German dominance continued. The only surprise of these finals was the temporary disruption of the hierarchy among the three German pairs, with Leonie Maria Walter and her guide Christian Krasman winning the 5km Individual Start. The pair secured victory with a 15-second lead over the category leaders, Linn Kazmaier and her guide Florian Baumann. The podium was again completed by Johanna Recktenwald and her guide Pirmin Strecker. Linn Kazmaier regained the lead in the following race, the sprint, and also won the 20km Mass Start, each time ahead of Leonie Maria Walter and Johanna Recktenwald. This same order was reflected in the 2024 season overall standings, resulting in victory for the Kazmaier-Baumann pair with 784 points collected.

Equally impressive and consistent, the Ukrainian team also ended the 2024 season on a high note, with 9 podium finishes in the last three races, including a victory by Drahun Serafym in the Men Standing sprint. This sprint saw a 100% Ukrainian podium in this category, as Serafym was joined by his compatriots Grygorii Vovchynskyi, 2nd, and Serhii Romaniuk, 3rd. Other podium finishes for the Ukrainian team were achieved by Liudmyla Liashenko in the Women Standing category (3rd, 2nd, and 2nd), Rad Taras in the Men Sitting category (2nd in the sprint), and Suiarko Dmytro and his guide Nikonovych Oleksandr in the Men Vision Impaired category (2nd in the sprint and 3rd in the 20km Mass Start).Thanks to the excellent performances of its athletes, represented in each category, throughout the season, Ukraine has accumulated 23,012 points in the Para Nordic World Cup (10,558 points collected during Para Cross-Country events and 12,454 points collected in Para Biathlon), thus winning the Nations Cup 2024!

Among the top-performing teams at the end of the season, Canada cannot be overlooked. After collecting 6 medals at the Para Biathlon World Championships, including 4 World Champion titles won by Mark Arendz (triple World Champion in the Men Standing category) and Natalie Wilkie (World Champion in the Women Standing 7.5km event), Canadian athletes continued to excel at home. In addition to the Para Biathlon World Champions who remained strong, excellent performances were delivered in the Sitting categories. In the men's events, Derek Zaplotinsky and Collin Cameron played leading roles in each of the last three races. Derek won the 5km race and Collin subsequently won the sprint. Both stood on the podium in the final race, the 20km Mass Start, in 2nd and 3rd place, behind the leader of their category, Giuseppe Romele (ITA).

Led by Cristian Westemaier Ribera, the Brazilian team also showcased its strengths in the Sitting categories. Following his first World Cup success in Toblach (ITA) earlier in the season, Cristian Westemaier Ribera confirmed his potential by finishing 3rd in the 5km Individual Start and the Sprint. His compatriot Aline Dos Santos Rocha followed suit, claiming the third step on the podium in the 5km Individual Start and the Sprint, and adding a second-place finish in the final race (20km Mass Start) in the Women Sitting category. These were her first World Cup podiums of the season, as she didn’t attend previous competitions in Europe.

Finally, although these finals saw new faces battling for top positions, the leaders of each category all resisted pressure perfectly and defended their positions. Thus, in the Women Standing category, Vilde Nilsen (NOR) secured three more victories and easily won the overall category title with 845 points. She was followed by Liudmyla Liashenko (UKR), 2nd with 776 points, and Emma Archibald, 3rd with 583 points collected through a very consistent season. In the Men Sitting category, Giuseppe Romele (ITA), the leader, had to settle for two 4th places before enjoying victory again in the 20km Mass Start. The Italian totaled 782 points and thus won the overall category title ahead of Cristian Westemaier Ribera (BRA), who collected 30 points fewer, and Derek Zaplotinsky (CAN) with 617 points. In the Men Standing category, the title was contested between Taiki Kawayoke (JPN) and Witold Skupien (POL). Thanks to two new victories in the finals, it was ultimately the Japanese who won with a total of 745 points. The Polish athlete, who secured two 2nd places in the 5km Individual Start and the 20km Mass Start, finished 2nd overall with 656 points, ahead of Yoshihiro Nitta (JPN), 3rd with a total of 628 points. Finally, with three more podiums, including two victories in the finals, Jake Adicoff (USA) claimed the Men Vision Impaired category title with a total of 832 points, ahead of Inkki Inola (FIN), 2nd with 693 points collected, and Dmytro Suiarko (UKR) and his 597 points.