Month in para-sport review: February 2015
01.03.2015Catch-up on what went on during a very busy month for winter sports.
Matti Suur-Hamari took the victory in the men's SB-LL2 snowboard-cross race at the La Molina 2015 IPC Para-Snowboard World Championships
© • Oriol Molas
February saw World Championships take place in two Paralympic winter sports, whilst elsewhere a number of summer sports held their first events ahead of a busy 2015.
Here’s what you may have missed last month.
World Wheelchair Curling Championships 2015
Russia claimed their second world title in three years after defeating China 7-4 in the gold medal game at the World Championships in Lohja, Finland.
The Sochi 2014 silver medallists lost one game all competition, whilst China also enjoyed their best ever finish.
Hosts Finland secured bronze, whilst Scotland, Sweden and Norway were all relegated to the World Wheelchair Curling Qualification event.
IPC Para-Snowboard World Championships
Dutch athletes Chris Vos and Bibian Mentel-Spee had an event to remember in La Molina, Spain, winning two gold medals each with victory in snowboard cross head-to-head and banked slalom.
There was also gold medal success for Finland’s Matti Suur-Hamari, Italy’s Manuel Pozzerle and USA's Brenna Huckaby in snowboard cross head-to-head, whilst the world titles in banked slalom went to the USA’s Mike Shea, Austria’s Patrick Mayrhofer and France’s Cecile Hernandez-Cervellon.
IBSA Judo World Cup
Judoka from Uzbekistan dominated the biggest para-sport event ever to take place in Hungary by winning four out of 13 events to the top the medals table at the World Cup in Eger.
Taking gold for Uzbekistan was Sherzod Namozov, Feruz Sayidov, Shirin Sharipov and Tursunpashsha Nurmetova.
More than 100 judoka took part in the event, an important qualifying event for Rio 2016.
Find out more about the IBSA Judo World Cup
IPC Athletics Grand Prix
Ten world and 54 regional records were broken during four days of action at the first IPC Athletics Grand Prix of the season in Dubai, UAE.
Great Britain’s Aled Davies led the way breaking his own records in the shot put and discus. On the track further world records were set by the Netherlands’ Marlou Van Rhijn (100m T43), Great Britain’s Maria Lyle (200m T35).
More than 450 athletes from 45 countries took part in the event. Athletes will not get ready for the next Grand Prix in Brisbane, Australia, in early March.
IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals
In St. Moritz, Switzerland, France’s Marie Bochet, Germany’s Anna Schaffelhuber and Canada’s Mac Marcoux, guided by Rombin Femy, each secured three wins out of the four giant slalom and slalom races.
In winning both his slalom events, Russia’s Alexy Bugaev maintained his 100 per cent record in the discipline during the World Cup season.
IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup
The USA’s sit skiers Andy Soule and Oksana Masters enjoyed the best of the action in Asahikawa, Japan, with both winning four out of their five races.
Russian, Japanese, French, Canadian and Norwegian athletes also topped the podium during the six-day event.
The indoor rowing season has seen a number of world records fall. At the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships in Mississauga, Ontario,Curtis Halladay posted 2:56.6 in the para LTA men's 1,000m race while Cameron Sinclair recorded 3:23.2 in the para TA men's 1,000m.
At the French Indoor Rowing Championships in Paris, Paralympic medallist Perle Bouge broke her own world record in the para TA women's 1,000m with a time of 3:47.5 which kicked almost five seconds off her previous best set in 2013.
In London, Great Britain’s Grace Clough set an LTA world record of 3:28.6 for 1000m.
News of Canadian and French world records
Argentina’s World No.4 Gustavo Fernandez completed a memorable first visit to Rotterdam when he beat world No. 5 Joachim Gerard 6-0 3-6 6-1 to win the first ITF 1 Series singles title of 2015 at the ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, part of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
