2014 Winter Paralympics | Page 2 | Golden Skate

2014 Winter Paralympics

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Right. So the Biathletes don't carry their rifles around with them on their backs. Instead the coaches look after the rifles, and carry them back and forward to the lane when the Biathlete is in the shooting range.

You know, I never thought about it before, but that makes a lot of sense. Like, it must be very difficult for amputees (be it arms or legs) to get a rifle on and off their back at the best of times, never mind doing it at speed.

And having a stand to put the rifles onto (just like in those arcade games) makes sense too. Even if the targets are closer than in able-bodied Biathlon, you would still need to be unimaginably steady to shoot a target that small one-handed. I know I wouldn't be able to! ;)

Anyway, onto the race itself.

Now although they were not racing each other on time, there was a very exciting race to be first across the line between the Russian Natalia BRATIUK and the Ukrainian Liudmyla LIASHENKO. Bratiuk led it coming into the last corner. but, they came out of the corner side-by-side and there was a mad race for the line. Liashenko just got across the line first, but because they started 1m30s apart, Bratiuk took the early lead.

The race was won by a Ukrainian, Oleksandra KONONOVA. The remaining medals are staying in Russia after Alena KAUFMAN finished second (one of only 2 Biathletes to clear all her shots), with Bratiuk finishing third. Incidentally Liashenko finished fifth.

In fact all of the top 6 were either Russian or Ukrainian. The best of the rest was Japan's Momoko DEKIJIMA in 7th (the other Biathlete to clear all her shots), followed by Finland's Maija JARVELA in 8th. And behind them was another Ukrainian, Iryna BUI.

Yes, I enjoyed that. I'm even more curious now to know how the VI Biathlon works!

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Another change in schedule for the Alpine Skiing :rolleye:

The Super G segment of the Super Combined will now be starting half an hour earlier at 10:00 GMT, i.e. IN TEN MINUTES TIME!

This is getting hard to keep track of!

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
There were actually only 3 taking part in the Super-G segment of the VI Super Combined, after Kelly Gallagher didn't finish the Slalom, and we had disqualifications for Perrine and Farkasova.

After finishing third in the Slalom, the Umsteads were first to start the Super-G. And they held onto their third place.

Jade Etherington was up next, and she set a sensational time in the Super-G! 13 seconds quicker than the Umsteads, and 2.5 seconds quicker than Aleksandra FRANTCEVA would set in the next run.

Unfortunately for Jade, Frantceva had a 3 second lead coming into the Super-G. So, it was another Gold for the host nation.

Final results are Gold for Aleksandra FRANTCEVA, Silver for Jade ETHERINGTON, and Bronze for Danielle UMSTEAD.

So, Jade Etherington has won another Medal. And the presenter on Channel 4 took great pleasure in telling us that with this 4th Medal, Jade is now Team GB's most decorated Winter Paralympian, and also that it now puts Jade above Canada in the Medals table...


In the Standing Race, Marie BOCHET of France won both segments to take the Gold medal. After the Slalom, Stephanie JALLEN of Holland was in 2nd and Andrea ROTHFUSS of Germany was in 3rd. Well, they swapped positions in the Super-G, and also in the overall results.

The two LW2 racers, Russia's Inga MEDVEDEVA (4th in Slalom) and America's Allison JONES (5th in Slalom) swapped places in both the Super-G and overall.

Slovakia's Petra SMARZOVA held onto 6th overall, but was actually 7th in the Super-G.

That left the Canadians. Alexandra STARKER, who had been 7th in the Slalom segment, didn't start the Super-G. So that elevated her team-mate Erin LATIMER from 8th in the Slalom to 7th overall, although she was actually 6th in the Super-G.


In the Sitting Race, Team GB's Anna TURNEY was the first starter, having finished 5th in the Slalom segment. And she was also the first faller of the day in Alpine Skiing. She had a jump before a gate not far into the course, and had a crash landing.

Fourth placed finisher in the Slalom, America's Laurie Stephens, didn't start the Super-G. So, the second starter was Austria's Claudia LOESCH, who had finished 3rd in the Slalom. She also crashed. This time it was a very fast one further down the course, and she got tangled up in the safety netting.

Which left the two Germans.

Firstly, a bit of news. You know how I told you that Anna SCHAFFELHUBER won Wednesday's Slalom Race, but was disqualified for a false start in the first run. Well, she appealed, and was handed it back. I have no idea how they worked it out, but she was given the Gold Medal, pushing her team-mate Anna-Lena FORSTER down to the Silver.

Well, they finished in that same order in all segments of the Super Combined. So, Schaffelhuber got another Gold, and Forster another Silver.

So, since there were only 2 that finished the Super-G, does that mean no Bronze Medal is awarded in the Super Combined. Or, will it go to Loesch as she set the third best time behind the Germans in the Slalom?

CaroLzia_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Well, unfortunately I got my times mixed up yesterday, and I missed the VI Biathlon!

Today's coverage on Channel 4 has just started, and guess what they're showing. Correct - Curling! But, that is hardly surprising, as Great Britain are playing Russia in the Semi-Final.

For details on how to receive Channel 4 on the TV, see this post above.

Here is the stream of the Channel 4 coverage:

Official Channel 4 Livestreaming Channel

And here is the stream that is currently showing the Curling:

Official Channel 4 Livestreaming Channel

Incidentally, this particular stream will alternate between Curling and Ice Hockey all day.

The other stream is showing the Men's Giant Slalom:

Official Channel 4 Livestreaming Channel

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Thanks for the info CaroLiza_fan.
I loved the Curling today.
The Ice Hockey was also great.

You're welcome. I have to admit, I have never been a fan of either Curling or Ice Hockey, so I haven't been watching them at either the Olympics or Paralympics. But, I'm glad that you are enjoying them.

It's all gone so quickly, but we have now got to the final day of the Paralympics. And it is also Kelly Gallagher's final day of competition, when she goes out in the Giant Slalom.

The GS will start at 05:30 GMT, i.e. NOW

Kelly will start with Bib 5, straight after her Australian namesake Jesica Gallagher.

Incidentally, Jade Etherington will be the second starter, and Millie Knight will again be the final starter. Hopefully Millie and Rachael will have a good run like their second in the slalom, as opposed to a run like their first...

Channel 4's coverage starts in a few minutes, so I assume they will be showing all of the GS.

Digital terrestrial (UK only): Ch. 4 on Freeview
Digital cable (UK only): Ch. 104 on Virgin Media
Digital satellite (Europe): Ch. 104 on SkyDigital
Astra 28.2E, Transponder 41 (10.714H. MBaud 22,000. FEC 5/6).
NOTE: There are 6 regional variations of Channel 4 on this frequency. But, it doesn't matter which one you watch - the only difference is the adverts!

Here is the livestream of the TV coverage:

Official Channel 4 Livestreaming Channel

And here is the stream that will be showing the Alpine Skiing:

Official Channel 4 Livestreaming Channel

The other livestreaming channel will be showing the Cross-Country skiing from 06:00 GMT, but it is not on-air yet.

EDIT: Here is the link for the Cross-Country:

Official Channel 4 Livestreaming Channel

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
My report on the first run of the Women's VI Giant Slalom is in the Northern Ireland thread.

Andrea ROTHFUSS was first out in the Standing Race, and set the early pace with a time of 1m 25.36s.

Marie BOCHET made a mistake, but still managed to set the fastest time. But, she was only 0.38s ahead of Rothfuss in 2nd.

Solene JAMBAQUE was third, 2.73s behind Bochet.

The next 4 in the results are very close, ranging from +5.54s for Petra SMARZOVA in 4th, to +6.67s for Allison JONES in 7th. Then there is a bit of a gap, before we get to a group of 5 close together, ranging from +8.19s for Inga MEDVEDEVA in 8th, to +9.34s for Anna JOCHEMSEN in 12th.

So, it will be a very interesting second run with a lot of exciting fights.

But what on Earth happened with the Romanian entry, Laura VALEANU?! She went out of the gate on the wrong beep, and skiied straight out to the side. There was some discussion over the radio between the officials, but they let her have a second attempt. She set a time of 1m 33.96s, which was one place above Anna JOCHEMSEN!

Whether it stands or she is subsequently disqualified, we will have to wait and see.

I found it interesting when we were told the story of the final two starters, Denmark's Line DAMGAARD and Bosnia's Ilma KAZAZIC. They would not qualify for the World Cup races, but the IPC let them compete in the Paralympics as kinda "wildcards".

Damgaard was Denmark's first competitor in Alpine Skiing at the Paralympics. Kazazic is only 15 years old and (like her fellow youngster Millie Knight) was the flagbearer for her country at the Opening Ceremony.

Damgaard finished 18th, about 25s behind America's Melanie SCHWARTZ in 17th. Kazazic was 19th, another 25s seconds back.

They were both taking it VERY canny and easy, but fair play to them!


Then the wind started playing up, and there was a bit of a delay before the start of the Sitting Race. After a while, we got the first starter down, America's Alana NICHOLS. But, then we had to stop again, because one of the inflatable markers marking the finish line was blowing away!!!

This delay looks like it is going to be a long one, so Channel 4 have left the Alpine Skiing to show some of the Cross-Country.

And I have left to catch up on the snooker final. But, I'll be back if and when the weather allows the Alpine Skiing to re-start. (That wording shows how confident I am that it will get re-started...!)

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Well, Channel 4 did go back to the Alpine Skiing, but it was just highlights.

We missed the second starter, Japan's Momoka MURAOKA, but we re-joined with the third starter, Canada's Kimberly JOINES, who turned out to be the leader at the half-way stage.

Next up was Austria's Claudia LOESCH, who was NOT given the Bronze medal for the Super Combined. She has been very disappointing since winning the Silver medal in the Super G. She eventually finished in 5th, one place ahead of Muraoka. But she is 5.65s behind Joines.

Anna SCHAFFELHUBER was next, and finished in 2nd. But, at 1.16s down, she still has a chance.

America's Laurie STEPHENS started next, and she finished 7th, at the bottom of the "first wave" in the results table.

Britain's Anna TURNEY ground to an absolute stop in her run. But she carried on and finished 11th, ahead of the Swedish entry.

The second runs will be shown on Channel 4 from 09:00 GMT

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
I'll post my report in a different post. But, just to let you know that the Channel 4 coverage has ended with 2 to go in the Sitting race, and the coverage has switched to More4

Digital terrestrial (UK only): Ch. 14 on Freeview
Digital cable (UK only): Ch. 147 on Virgin Media
Digital satellite (Europe): Ch. 138 on SkyDigital
Astra 28.2E, Transponder 42 (10.729V. MBaud 22,000. FEC 5/6).

Two to go! I'm lost for words!

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
The Visually Impaired GS second run got off on time.

America's Staci MANNELLA was first up, and had a good run. She was 4th fastest of everybody in the second run! But, her big disadvantage from the first run meant that she stayed in 6th place overall.

In the first run, I got the impression that Millie KNIGHT could have gone faster if her guide had picked up the pace a bit. Well, in the second run, I am in no doubt of it. But, she was consistent - 5th in every race (and every run!) she took part in at Sochi.

Korea's YANG also had guide problems. LEE Ji Youl got a bit too far ahead of her in the early stages, and had to slow down a couple of times. Yang set the slowest of everybody in the second run. But, the advantage they had from the first run meant they still managed to take the lead from Knight by over a second.

Jessica GALLAGHER had a great run, and took the lead by over 3 seconds. Didn't realise she was the first Aussie to compete in both Summer and Winter Paralympics. But, she's now got a Winter medal!

Next up was FRANTCEVA, and she was in a totally different league. You could see that she was visibly a lot faster than all that came before her, and it was proved right in the results. 7.2s faster than Gallagher!

Finally, FARKASOVA. She was well up by the split, but then her guide hit one of the gates. The commentators thought this might slow her down, but it didn't. She won by 6.28s!

Farkasova and Frantceva were definitely the dominant figures of the Visually Impaired Alpine Skiing at these Paralympics. And the battle between them, and Jade Etherington, was the main storyline. But, for me, the highlight was obviously Kelly Gallagher winning the Super-G.


Come the Standing race, Channel 4 arrived late, so we didn't see anybody before MEDVEDEVA. But VALEANU was in the lead at the time, so she musn't have been disqualified for her false start in the first run. Medvedeva took the lead

Allison JONES was next, and she took the lead by 4.37s. This was actually the 3rd fastest time in the 2nd run, but the 7th place in the 1st run meant she finished 4th.

Papulova was the third we saw, and she was the first we saw go out. No fall or anything - she just went straight on at a gate, and missed the next gate.

The next starter, America's Jallen also got a DNF, but this time it was a fall.

Smarzova went next, and slotted in between Jones and Medvedeva in the overall results. I kinda felt sorry for her, because she was 4th in each run, but only finished 5th overall.

It was the next starter, France's Jambaque, that ended Jones' run in the lead. Jambaque would go on and win the Bronze Medal.

Rothfuss was up next and was in a totally different league to everybody before her. She took the lead from Jambaque by a whole 7.11s!!!

Which left Bochet. Would she another Gold? Yep! But she didn't win it by much - she was only 0.86s ahead of Rothfuss.

What a Paralympics for Bochet. She had one DNF, and won Gold in every other race.


After the Standing Race, Channel showed a pre-recorded video. So, I thought we would miss a lot of the Sitting starters. But, we joined in the middle of the first starter, Sweden's Linnea OTTOSSON EIDE. But she was so far back after the first run (17.69s behind Anna Turney), that she was never going to make up any places on her own.

Anna Turney actually set the 5th fastest time of everybody in the 2nd run, which put her into a massive 44.53s lead over the Swede.

The next two slotted in behind Turney, so the commentators started getting excited about Turney's lead, and about whether she could get something out of it

Japan's Yoshiko TANAKA was next up. Her 2nd run was nearly 8s slower than Turney's, but the advantage from the first run was enough to end Turney's climb. Tanaka was actually the 8th fastest in each of her runs, but ended up getting 7th overall, for reasons that will become clear below...

Next was another Japanese skiier, Momoka MURAOKA. Unlike Tanaka, Muraoka set a brilliant time in the 2nd run, the 4th fastest in fact. And with her advantage from the first run, she took a big lead over her team-mate.

But it was short lived. Claudia LOESCH made up for her 5th place in the first run by setting the 2nd fastest time of everybody in the second run. She took the lead from Muraoka by 5.81s

Then was the first of the Germans. Forster slotted in 3.42s behind Loesch.

Alana Nicholls was going well, but then had a 360 spin. She continued on down, but could only set the 7th fastest time of the 2nd run. Fortunately, her 3rd place in the 1st run was enough to have her finish 4th overall.

Then the Channel 4 coverage finished, and we had to wait a few minutes until the coverage strated on More4. Grrrrr!!!! :mad:

Thankfully, they did not miss anybody. They came back with SCHAFFELHUBER starting, and she promptly took the lead from Loesch by 4.65s.

Then the leader. Kimberley Joines of Canada. Would she stop Schaffelhuber from getting a clean sweep?

JOINES FELL!!! :eek: And couldn't get manoevered up to the gate she missed.

A clean sweep in the World Championships and then another clean sweep in the Paralympics. What more can you say about Anna Schaffelhuber?!

Mind you, I still want to know about that Paralympic Slalom gold...

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Mmmm. it has been announced that Jade Etherington will be the flagbearer in the Closing Ceremony IF she is well enough.

I hope she is well enough because, after winning all those medals, she deserves this honour.

In theory, the next choice should be Kelly Gallagher. For goodness sake, she won Team GB's first ever Winter Paralympic Gold medal. And, of course, I would love to see somebody from Northern Ireland have a big honour like this. ;) :biggrin:

But, I am not entirely sure whether Kelly will have sufficiently got over the disappointment of what happened in her other races, and in particular this morning's, to do something major like this. Like, she was more than a bit annoyed...

The Closing Ceremony will be shown on Channel 4 from 15:45 - 17:55 GMT.

Digital terrestrial (UK only): Ch. 4 on Freeview
Digital cable (UK only): Ch. 104 on Virgin Media
Digital satellite (Europe): Ch. 104 on SkyDigital
Astra 28.2E, Transponder 41 (10.714H. MBaud 22,000. FEC 5/6).
NOTE: There are 6 regional variations of Channel 4 on this frequency. But, it doesn't matter which one you watch - the only difference is the adverts!

I will be away this afternoon, so I won't see it live. And anyway, I haven't got round to watching the Opening Ceremony yet... :slink:

CaroLiza_fan
 
Top