Chris Klebl

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Canada's Chris Klebl won the men's middle distance cross-country sitting at Sochi 2014, preventing rival Russian Roman Petushkov from winning his seventh gold medal. © • Getty

Canada’s Chris Klebl completed a shock victory at Sochi 2014, crossing the men’s 10km cross-country sitting finish line in first place.

His performance was an incredible upturn in form, having finished far away from the medals at the 2013 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships in Solleftea, Sweden, just 12 months before.

Now ranked amongst the top cross-country skiers in the world, behind Ukraine’s Maksim Yarovyi, Klebl’s comeback from an abysmal 2013 Worlds started with two wins in the 2014 IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup.

That cemented his potential shown in 2011 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, where he topped the podium in the men’s 15km cross-country sitting and won silver in the 1km sprint.

Klebl was born in Germany as a US citizen, competing for America at Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010. However in 2011, he made the switch to Canada who he will be flying the flag for at the 2017 World Para Nordic Skiing World Championships inFinsterau, Germany.