Santacana, Farkasova shine at Europa Cup

Spain’s Jon Santancana and Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova won both their downhill runs at the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Tarvisio, Italy. 26 Jan 2013

Spain’s Jon Santacan Maiztegui won the men’s visually impaired giant slalom on the first day of the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Sestriere, Italy.

ⒸLiski

By IPC

The IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Tarvisio, Italy continues on Friday with the slalom and super-G races.

At the first day of the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Tarvisio, Italy on Thursday (24 January), four skiers came away with two first-place finishes each, including Spain’s Yon Santancana, Austria’s Markus Salcher, Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova and France’s Marie Bochet.

Men’s downhill visually impaired

Spain’s Santancana, a gold medallist at the Vancouver 2010 Games, won both races in this category, posting top times of 1:03.66 and 1:03.64. Slovakia’s Miroslav Haraus and Russia’s Ivan Rantsev finished second and third, respectively, in the first run, while Spain’s Gabriel Gorce Yepes and Slovakia’s Jakub Krako took second and third, respectively, in the second run.

Men’s downhill standing

In both runs in Tarvisio, Salcher finished just ahead of teammate Matthias Lanzinger in both runs, posting times of 1:03.82 and 1:02.73. Lanzinger took second with times of 1:05.01 and 1:04.61.

Men’s downhill sitting

Japan’s Akira Kano won the first of two runs in a time of 1:07.87, followed on the slopes by Austria’s Roman Rabl and France’s Yohann Taberlet. Germany’s Georg Kreiter won the second run in 1:07.14, as the Netherlands’ Kees-Jan van der Klooster took second and Taberlet once again finished third.

Women’s downhill visually impaired

Farkasova dominated this category, finishing both runs well ahead of her competition in tmies of 1:08.91 and 1:09.51. The Slovakian, who already has three Paralympic golds to her name, has been deemed the one to beat at both the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships and the Sochi 2014 Games. Russia’s Alexandra Frantseva grabbed second and third place finishes in this event on Thursday.

Women’s downhill standing

Bochet won her rivalry with Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss on the slopes of Tarvisio so far, beating her in both downhill runs with times of 1:09.49 and 1:10.29. Rothfuss finished a close second in both, clocking in at 1:10.69 and 1:10.36.

Women’s downhill sitting

USA’s Alana Nichols won the first run in this category in 1:12.34, as Austria’s Claudia Loesch finished just 28 hundredths of a second behind her. The two swapped positions in the second run, as Loesch came out on top in 1:12.34.

For full results from Thursday’s races, please click here.

The IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Tarvisio, Italy continues on Friday with the slalom and super-G races.