ParaNordic athletes Brittany Hudak, Chris Klebl and Brian McKeever had the luck of the Irish on their side as they brought home three medals from the ParaNordic World Cup in Surnadal, Norway on March 17.
Klebl won gold in the sit-ski category, McKeever and guide Erik Carleton won yet another gold in the men’s visually impaired race and Hudak grabbed silver in the 15-kilometre standing category.
Klebl, 43, finished the 15-km sit-ski race in 40:24 in warm conditions. “I am definitely a fan of spring racing with the longer, warmer days. The racing this week is during the timeframe of the Paralympic Games, so it is also good to see that our training plan has me skiing fast now,” he said. “I have one race left to see how the overall standings for the year shake out and I’m looking forward to it.”
Aleksander Davidovich of Russia was second. Alexey Bychenkov, also of Russia, won bronze.
McKeever and Carleton haven’t been defeated in 2015 on the ParaNordic world cup, and they continued that streak in a 20-km skate race. They stopped the clock in 48:38.5. They trounced opponents Stanislav Choklaev of Russia by five minutes. Anatoli Kovalevskyi of Ukraine won bronze.
Hudak moved to Canmore this year to train with the Canadian ParaNordic Team, and was happy with her performance. She grabbed silver in 44:35.8.
“It is a mixture of shock and happiness today. It was great to beat the Ukraine girl who was third for the first time, so I was thrilled with that,” Hudak said. “I had been feeling tired heading into the race, so I was focused on my technique and skiing as efficiently as possible. Once I started the race, it became clear that my skis were really fast, so I pushed hard and enjoyed the experience.”
Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova won gold.
The Norway races were the last of the year, wrapping up with a biathlon competition on Wednesday (March 18).
