Winter Paralympics: Liu Mengtao becomes China’s first Para biathlete to win three medals, as Zhang Mengqiu secures second gold of Games
- China strikes gold on day 4, as Zhang wins women’s giant slalom standing event, while Liu wins men’s individual sitting
- Wu Zhongwei and Sun Qi continue the host’s snowboarding success on home soil after taking gold in men’s banked slalom
Liu Mengtao became the first Chinese Para biathlete to win three medals at a Winter Paralympic Games, after claiming the men’s individual sitting gold on Friday in spectacular fashion.
Having previously taken gold in the middle distance and bronze in the sprint, the Paralympic debutant finished first in the 12.5km race in 38 minutes and 29.4 seconds without missing a single shot in the four rounds of prone shooting.
Liu clinched gold ahead of Ukraine’s Taras Rad by 44.5 seconds. The 22-year-old, who was the gold medallist at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games, settled for silver while 24-year-old Liu Zixu added bronze to his gold medal in the men’s sprint sitting earlier this week.
“The race wasn’t easy,” said Liu, who took up the sport in 2016. “Haven’t you seen my face when I was on the track, twisted and in pain? I mean, it’s 12.5 kilometres. And the snow was pretty slow today.”
On a day that saw China add considerably more medals to its record haul, Chinese skier Zhang Mengqiu won her second gold of the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games after claiming the title in women’s giant slalom standing on Friday.
The 20-year-old, who took home gold in the women’s super-G on Sunday, clocked a winning time of 1:55.12 over two runs, 5.83 seconds ahead of Mollie Jepsen of Canada. German skier Andrea Rothfuss finished third in 2:01.91.
Zhang has medalled in every race she entered in Beijing, winning two silver medals in addition to two golds. She is now eyeing another gold in the women’s slalom race on Saturday.
“I have the chance to win a gold tomorrow. You can expect it,” she said.
Chinese snowboarders Wu Zhongwei and Sun Qi added two gold medals in the men’s banked slalom. Wu finished first in both runs to snatch the SB-LL1 title, while 22-year-old Sun stormed ahead to take gold in the SB-LL2 event.
Elsewhere, Austria’s Veronika Aigner added one more Paralympic gold to her family collection, after she won the women’s giant slalom vision impaired event with a two-run time of 1:52.54.
Her younger sister Barbara Aigner took bronze in 1:59.93, while silver went to Chinese racer Zhu Daqing.
It was the third gold medal the Aigner family has won at the Beijing Games – Barbara and Veronika’s brother, Johannes Aigner, took home another two in men’s downhill and giant slalom vision impaired.
Meanwhile, the gold rush continued for Japanese skier Momoka Muraoka when she defended her women’s sitting giant slalom title and earned her third alpine skiing gold of the Games.
The 25-year-old bounced back from her silver in the super combined earlier in the week to claim her fourth medal of the 2022 Games and stay on course to win five medals at consecutive Paralympics.
“I skied with the determination of getting that gold medal, and was able to win by a huge time margin as a result, so right now I am filled with a sense of accomplishment,” she said.
In the wheelchair curling, China will get the chance to defend their gold medal after they defeated semi-final opponents Canada 9-5.
The result is a remarkable turnaround for China, who after losing their opening two matches, have gone unbeaten in nine games to earn their place in the final. They will face Sweden, who defeated Slovakia to book their place in the match.
At the end of day 7, medal table leaders China extended their overall count to 47, with 14 golds, 14 silvers and 19 bronze. Ukraine have edged their way back up the ladder with a haul of 25 medals, with 9 golds, 10 silvers and 6 bronze.
