BEIJING — A hat-trick of gold medals propelled Canada from sixth to third in
the Beijing Winter Paralympics medals table on Monday, as hosts
China extended
their streak of success.
اضافة اعلان
On the third day of action in the Chinese capital,
Natalie Wilkie powered home in the standing long distance cross-country skiing event, while
fellow Canadian Brian McKeever, 42, claimed victory in the visually impaired
category.
At the snowboarding cross, first-time
Paralympian and double-amputee
Tyler Turner made his mark with gold for Canada in the LL1 category.
Four years ago, after a
skydiving crash, he didn’t think he would
snowboard again – the road to Paralympic glory was physically and emotionally
challenging.
“I like to tell people it’s not pretty, it’s not sexy – it looks like I
lost my legs yesterday and woke up tomorrow on the top of the podium, but
that’s not how it goes,” the 33-year-old Turner told AFP.
Fellow Canadian boarder Lisa Dejong netted a silver in the women’s
event, which was won by France’s
Cecile Hernandez, 47, with Brenna Huckaby
taking bronze in a race that had plenty of thrills and spills.
The men’s UL snowboarding cross final was an all-China affair with Ji
Lijia, 19, beating out over
Wang Pengyao and Zhu Yonggang to win his country’s
seventh gold.
“Four Chinese athletes in the big final. We were really happy. Our goal
is to bring glory to our home country,” Ji told reporters.
Top-of-the-table China’s medal haul is now up to 25, seven of them gold
– an impressive feat considering their first
Winter Paralympics medal only
arrived in 2018. On that occasion it was a gold in wheelchair curling.
Ukraine win gold again
Cross-country skier
Oksana Shyshkova added another
gold medal to Ukraine’s tally, bringing their total number of golds to four.
The team, which netted seven biathlon medals including three gold on day
one, faced an arduous journey last week to make it to Beijing for the
Paralympics after the
Russian invasion of their homeland.
The United Nations estimates 1.5 million Ukrainians have fled the
country as part of the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.
“With the situation in
Ukraine, it is very difficult to focus on the race
and to be emotionally stable, but we know that we have to do everything we
can,” Shyshkova told reporters.
“Our battle is here and we should prove that Ukraine is a strong
country.”
Australia’s top medal hope
Ben Tudhope, who has cerebral palsy, pocketed
bronze in the para-snowboarding cross LL2 category, at his third Paralympics.
“I still can’t wrap my head around it. It doesn’t feel real yet,” the
22-year-old told reporters.
“Flying Finn” Matti
Suur-Hamari, 35, claimed gold and Garrett Geros from the USA won silver in that
event.
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