Murphy and Mentel claim first snowboard victory

The road to Sochi has already begun with snowboarders and alpine skiers picking up their first IPCAS points of the season, getting them one step closer to qualifying for the winter Paralympics. 22 Nov 2012

New Zealand's Carl Murphy topped the podium in Landgraaf, the Netherlands

ⒸNederlandse Ski Vereniging

By IPC

"I’m so stoked to finish on the podium in the first race of my 2012-2013 season.”

New Zealand’s Carl Murphy and the Netherlands’ Bibian Mentel were victorious in the first IPC-sanctioned snowboard event, since the sport was accepted onto the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games programme.

Thirty-two snowboarders from 12 nations participated in the IPCAS competition, alongside more than 100 alpine skiers in the Landgraaf SnowWorld, the Netherlands.

Carl Murphy, who is currently ranked number two in the world in the snowboard cross lower limb impairment class, maintained focus under pressure to take the win in 1:05.75.

"I’m so stoked to finish on the podium in the first race of my 2012-2013 season,” he said. “From the moment I woke up I was 110% focused on claiming the gold.

Murphy put on a good show in the first run, gaining the fastest time of the day, but in the second, he crashed out. As the results depend on the best two times out of three, everything depended on the third run.

Murphy held it together finishing almost two seconds faster than Canada's Tyler Mosher in second place. The Netherlands’ Merijn Koek claimed third.

“My focus now shifts to tomorrow’s day of racing where I want to back up today’s results and once again claim the gold,” said Murphy.

In the men’s upper-limb snowboard cross race, Great Britain’s Ben Moore managed to put aside a disappointing first run to finish two seconds ahead of Italy’s Roberto Cavicchi in second. France’s Benoit Moreau took bronze.

In the women’s race, Sara Dorigatti scored a time of 2:03.63 in the upper limb impairment class. The Netherlands’ Bibian Mentel, who was a key figure in campaigning for snowboard to be accepted onto the Paralympic programme for Sochi, clinched gold in the lower limb impairment group in 1:08.71. Her teammates Ilse van Rhenen and Lisa Bunschoten came second and third respectively.

The first men’s alpine skiing slalom race saw clear winners for the Russian team with Valery Redkozubov and Alexandr Alyabyev winning all three runs.

Redkozubov, who lead the World Cup last season, won in the visually impaired category in a time of 1:16.87. Spain’s Gabrial Juan Gorce Ypres was more than nine seconds behind taking silver (1:26.22) and Italy’s Alessandro Daldoss was third (1:30.44).

Alyabyev, a dominant force in slalom, had an equally convincing win in the standing category, finishing in 1:18.79. The Netherlands’ Thomas Mulder was second in 1:22.90 and Switzerland’s Christophe Brodard came third in 1:25.07.

Despite a slower second run, Germany’s Thomas Nolte pushed ahead in the sitting race, winning in 1:24.46. He was closely followed by the Netherlands’ Kees-Jan van der Klooster, who struggled on the first run, but came through in 1:27.30. Austria’s Andreas Kapfinger was third (1:28.45).

Korea’s Jae Rim Yang won the women’s visually impaired slalom in 1:49.02, beating Spain’s Ana Maria Selvi Solsona (1:53.07) and Italy’s Flavia Rosso (2:00.22) in second and third respectively.

The Netherlands’ Anna Jochemsen climbed atop the podium in the women’s slalom standing, winning with a time of 1:31.46. Finland’s Katja Saarinen was very close behind her (1:32.46) and Russia’s Inga Medvedeva took bronze (1:34.00).

The women’s sitting event was a German affair with teammates Anna-Lena Forster, Anna Schaffelhuber and Manuela Jelen taking the top three spots. Forster (1:34.50) won by just 0.13 seconds, when a fast third run pushed her ahead of last season’s world cup winner Schaffelhuber (1:34.63). Jelen trailed behind finishing in 1:48.34.

The competition continues in the same format on Friday 23 November. For full skiing results, please visit the IPC Alpine Skiing results page.