ABLE, Wisc.—Canada’s Mark Arendz celebrated his first gold medal of the season at the IPC Biathlon World Cup in Cable, Wisconsin on Friday.
The 22-year-old, of Springton, P.E.I., shot clean in his two trips to the range in the 7.5-kilometre sprint race to set the time to beat at 21:09.7.
“It is a relief to finally put everything together in a single race and take the top spot on the podium,” said Arendz. “My shooting felt solid. The targets seemed to grow bigger as I was shooting across. I pushed harder on the course and was skiing far more aggressive than I had in yesterday’s race.”
The gold medal builds on stellar week for the rising start in Paralympic sport. Arendz rattled off silver medal performances in two cross-country ski races before finishing second one more time on Thursday in the individual biathlon competition.
Norway’s Nils-Erik Ulset finished second at 21:16.7 (1+1). Russia’s Oleg Balukhto missed just one shot in his second round of shooting to secure third with a time of 22:06.2
It was the fifth victory and 19th IPC World Cup medal of Arendz’s career.
Gabriel Denis was the only other Canadian in the field and finished eighth at 36:48.3.
The IPC Biathlon World Cup continues on Saturday in Cable, Wisconsin.
Cross Country Canada is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 55,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities, including those on Canada’s National Ski Teams and Para-Nordic Ski Teams. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities, AltaGas, Statoil and Canadian Pacific – along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2ten, Cross Country Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on Cross Country Canada, please visit us at www.cccski.com
FOR COMPLETE RESULTS: http://www.nordicworldcup.us/index.html