08.03 First Biathlon Gold of Sochi Paralympics Goes to Germany’s Eskau

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia, March 8 (R-Sport) – Germany’s Andrea Eskau won the first biathlon gold medal of the Sochi Paralympics on Saturday with victory in the women’s 6km sitting event.

Eskau, 42, becomes a Winter and Summer Paralympic gold medalist, her biathlon win following three victories in handcycling at the 2008 and 2012 Games. She had previously won silver and bronze at the 2010 Winter Paralympics.

Eskau, who took up Paralympic sport after being paralyzed in a 1998 cycling accident, said the pressure of competing at home seemed to have told on her Russian rivals.

"I don't know why the Russians weren't ahead of me, maybe they had to deal with more pressure than I did," she said. "Normally they are perfect shooters, but today some of them made mistakes. I didn't have that kind of pressure."

Second place Saturday went to Svetlana Konovalova of Russia, 18.7 seconds off the pace, with the bronze medal won by 2010 champion Olena Iurkovska of Ukraine, 27.2 seconds down.

"The feeling's just super. I didn't expect a result like this," Iurkovska said. "Previously I competed in two rounds of the World Cup and didn't win a single medal. Here it's the Paralympics and straight away the first medal."

Oksana Masters of the United States was on track for a medal until she slipped on the last corner and lost several seconds, eventually coming in fourth.

The race used the principle of so-called “calculated time,” in which each athlete’s times is modified by a percentage reflecting the extent of their disability.

Five more biathlon gold medals are on offer in events later in the day.

Earlier Saturday, Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova won the first gold medal of the Sochi Paralympics with a win in the women’s visually impaired downhill skiing.