Russia has claimed gold at the world championships of Paraski, a discipline which combines skiing and parachuting.
19 teams from Europe and South Africa took part in the tournament staged in the Austrian Alps.
The competition consisted of two stages. At first, competitors skied down the slopes of Donnersbachwald. Russia built a strong lead after the event despite the awful weather conditions, and then managed to defend it in the sky
Nobody could challenge the SkyLink team in the parachuting accuracy contest, where they once again claimed the most points.
The Russian quartet took the deserved gold, while host Austria came second, and the Slovenians finished with bronze medals.
“We got silver at the championship last year. After that success we understood that we can do even better, and promised to win gold next time. And we did it,” commented Mark Potapov, Russia’s Paraski team head coach.
Team Russia now hopes to make Paraski a demonstration sport at Sochi Olympics in 2014.