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McKeevers net Canada’s first Paralympic gold, Woolstencroft the second

Weather disrupts alpine race schedule, but Canadians adjust
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The weather forecast for Whistler last week was eerily accurate and nothing but bad news for the volunteers keeping Franz's Run in shape for the Paralympic alpine events.

Everyone got one downhill training run - some of the athletes getting theirs Saturday morning - but in the end Saturday's downhill event was cancelled when fog rolled in and blanked out the course. With skiers pushing 120 km/h in training organizers had no choice but to postpone the downhill event and refund tickets for nearly 6,000 spectators who turned out to the sold-out race.

Given snow in the forecast through the week, organizers made the decision to run the technical events first starting with the slalom on Sunday and Monday and the giant slalom on Tuesday and Wednesday. The downhill is now scheduled for Thursday, the super G Friday and Saturday and the super combined on Sunday.

The change of plans was no issue for the Canadian team, which earned four medals in the slalom.

The first Canadian skiers on the podium were Viviane Forest, a visually impaired skier, and her guide Lindsay Debou. They earned a silver medal, finishing behind Sabine Gasteiger and guide Stefan Schoner of Austria, and ahead of Jessica Gallagher and guide Eric Bickerton of Australia.

Forest is still recovering from a groin pull sustained in a crash in training a few weeks ago and had a difficult time with the slalom.

"I think I was just trying to dig deep and not focus on the pain as I tried to make my way down," she said. "The last section I was in so much pain I was afraid I would miss a gate or something. But I finished and it went well."

This is Forest's third Paralympic Games, but only her first Winter Games. She represented Canada in the Summer Games twice in the sport of goalball, a kind of soccer played by visually-impaired athletes where they use hearing to shoot and block balls.

It was luck that she was paired with guide Lindsay Debou a year ago. Debou's regular skier was injured just as Forest's guide pulled out to start a family. The two were put together just days before last year's world championships.

"I think we had three days of training for our first race together and then we were on the podium," said Debou, who lives in Whistler.

The highlight for the two skiers was the crowd of over 4,000, which they could hear at the start gate.

"It was pretty special to get to the start zone and hear the crowd," said Forest. "I think we both started to stress a bit, but we looked at each other and said 'breathe in, let's have fun and just do it.'"

Forest's goal is to win at least one gold medal during the Paralympic Games and to finish on the podium in every event, despite her injury.

"That's the bottom line," she said.

The team of Chris Williamson and guide Nick Brush didn't fare as well in the men's visually impaired category, ranking eighth after a tough first run. They moved up two spots to sixth with a solid second run and consider themselves richer for the experience.

"It was a bad day all around," said Williamson. "I didn't start well in the first run, but I'm happy with my second run and I'm going to take that on Tuesday into the GS. I've had rough starts like this before and have come back, so that's the mindset right now.

"I'd rather we started with the downhill, but we can build on this. It's ski racing and anything can happen - if you knew what position you were going to come in they wouldn't hold the race."

A few minutes later sit skier Josh Dueck found himself in the improbable position on top of the leaderboard. One by one his faster and more experienced competitors missed his mark, with one skier going off course and another crashing into a double set of poles and ejecting.

Martin Braxenthaler of Germany was the exception, winning the race by over four seconds when the time adjustment for his disability was applied.

That put Dueck in second place out of almost 45 racers - his best finish ever in a slalom event.

"I feel pretty lucky to be in this position," said Dueck. "No doubt the hometown crowd played a part and everybody here supporting the Paralympics, and everybody here to support what I'm doing - it sent me over the top.

"You want to know something crazy," he added. "I haven't skied slalom in a month; this is my first day in a month. I was little nervous up top trying to get warmed up but we've actually been training this year where we would do three or four days of downhill and then switch to slalom, which helped. To finish my runs today would have been an achievement for me, to finish where I did was through the top."

While the course got softer in the afternoon and sit skis wore some big ruts in the course, Dueck said he tried to channel his experiences as a freestyle mogul skier into his run and just go with the flow.

The racing continued Monday with the standing category. Canada netted a double podium with Lauren Woolstencroft winning by a long margin and Karolina Wisniewska finishing third - half a second back of Andrea Rothfuss of Germany.

While not entirely unexpected - Woolstencroft and Wisniewski are usually on the podium - Woolstencroft has struggled with slalom this season.

"Slalom definitely hasn't been my best event this year at all and having Karolina on the podium with me today makes this win even more special," said Woolstencroft. "I just want to ski my best and I think I did that today so I'm really happy. I also think that skiing my best can put me on the podium so I hope I can keep this going."

This is Woolstencroft's third Paralympics, with five medals (three gold) in 2002 and 2006 Games.

Wisniewska won four medals in the 2002 Games, but stepped back from the sport and missed 2006. She returned two seasons ago and has steadily climbed the ranks.

"I didn't think I was going to podium today," she said. "My focus since my comeback was to become a better skier and focusing on the process. I have always said that if I can ski like I know how and be able to lay down some good runs, I am sure the results will come."

Melanie Schwartz and Andrea Dziewior were 13 th and 15 th respectively.

The men's standing category is one of the most competitive in the Games and the Canadians had a tough time on the course.

Australian athletes Adam Hall and Cameron Rahles-Rahbula were first and third, with Gerd Schonfelder of Germany picking up the silver medal.

The top Canadian was Kirk Schornstein, 25 th . Matt Hallat was 31 st .

 

Cross-Country

While the Canadian cross-country team is small, they've already made a big contribution to the Canadian effort with two medals.

Colette Bourgonje placed second in the women's 10 km sit ski race on Sunday, between winner Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus and third place Olen Iurkovska of Ukraine.

Bourgonje, 48, was shocked to finish on the podium in her ninth Paralympic Games.

"Age is nothing, attitude is everything and I lived by that today," she said. "I am still racing because I wanted to compete at a Paralympics in Canada and I'm just so proud to have done this in front of all Canadians. I share this medal with the entire country."

Bourgonje's resume includes five Winter Paralympics and four Summer Paralympics, where she participates in wheelchair racing.

Bourgonje was actually on pace to win gold, but had a crash on the second of three laps that cost her the lead.

The men's sit ski team didn't fare as well in the 15 km, although it was the Paralympic debut for both athletes. Lou Gibson placed 27 th and Sebastien Fortier 29 th . Russia's Irek Zairpov and Roman Petushikov were first and second for the men with Enzo Masiello of Italy placing third.

The following day Brian McKeever and his guide/brother Robin McKeever earned the first Paralympic gold medal ever won by Canadians on home soil in the men's 20 km race. They were chased hard by the top athletes from Russia and Belarus. Nikolay Polukhin was second and Vaili Shaptsiaboi third. Alexei Novikov, the other Canadian in the race, placed 13 th .

"This feels absolutely awesome," said McKeever after the race. "This has been eight years in the making and the one we wanted. We were inspired by Colette's performance yesterday. We wanted her to win gold, but she gave us the inspiration to go out and win today."

Before the Games there was some question as to whether the McKeevers would compete in all of the events after both brother came down with an illness. While not yet 100 per cent they will compete in most events.

No Canadians competed in the Men's Standing 20 km Free event, with Kirill Mikhaylov and Vladimir Kononov of Russia placing first and third and Nils-Erik Ulset of Norway winning silver.

Jody Barber was sixth in the Women's Standing 15 km Free race. The top three spots went to Anna Burmistrova of Russia, Iuliia Batenkova of Ukraine and Katarzyna Rogowiec of Poland.

Robbie Weldon and guide Brian Berry placed fifth in the Women's 15 km Free visually impaired event. Berena Bentele and guide Thomas Friedrich of Germany were first, followed by Llubov Vasilyeva of Russia and Yadviha Skorabahataya of Belarus. The Canadian pairing of Margarita Gorbounova and guide Robert D'Arras was seventh.

 

Biathlon

One of the weak spots in Canada's Paralympic program over the years has been biathlon. Although no Canadian athlete has won a medal yet in 2010 there is a noticeable improvement over results at the 2006 and 2002 Games.

The opening event of the 2010 Games was the pursuit.

In sitting, the top three men were Irek Zaripov of Russia, followed by Iurii Kostiuk of Ukraine and Andy Soule of the U.S. For the women it was Olena Iurkovska of Ukraine, followed by Maria Iovleva of Russia and Lyudmyla Pavlenko of Ukraine. No Canadians competed in the sitting category.

In standing, biathlon newcomer Mark Arendz had a pretty good day to place seventh. Russia and Ukraine were on the podium once again with Kirill Mikhaylov of Russia first and Grygorii Vovchynskyi of Ukraine third, divided by Nils-Erik Ulset of Norway.

Jody Baber of Canada placed 10 th in the women's standing category, while Anna Burmistrova and Alena Gorbunova of Russia were first and third, and Maija Loytynoja of Finland earned the silver.

Brian McKeever and guide Robin McKeever were fifth in the men's pursuit, which shows how important the shooting portion is - and McKeever has always admitted to being a lousy shot.

Vialiy Lukyanenko of Ukraine was first, Nikolay Polukhin of Russia second and Vasili Saptsiaboi of Belarus third.

Robbie Weldon was sixth for Canada in the women's visually impaired race, well off the lead pace. Verena Bentele of Germany was first, followed by Liubov Vasilyeva and Mikhalina Lysova of Russia.