São Paulo’s Christian Rieber reached third place in the world ranking of Paralympic cross-country skiing. The 17-year-old Brazil won two places on the World Para Nordic Skiing (WPNS) list compared to December. WPNS is a division of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) responsible for winter sports.
The ranking takes into account the results of the last two seasons. In 2020, Christian was runner-up at the World Cup for cross-country skiing. In January this year, he won silver medals Distance (Long distances, in circuits ranging from two to 50 kilometers) and in bronze Sprint (Controversy against the clock in a short-distance circuit in the city of Bozman (United States), up to two kilometers). The tournament marked the return of the Brazilian team to competitions since the onset of the epidemic of new coronoviruses (Kovid-19).
Russian skier Ivan Golubkov led the men’s rankings among athletes sitting on skis, followed by Americans Daniel Consen and Christian, who had arthrogropiosis, a disease that limited the joints of the legs. Brazil has three other names on the list: Robelson Lula (22nd), Guilhre Rocha (24th) and Wesley dos Santos (34th).
In the women’s section, Aline Rocha retained ninth place after two bronze medals at Bozman. American Oksana Masters is first, compatriot Kendall Grostek is second and Russian Marta Zanulina is third. Oksana and Gorsch were the only two athletes to defeat Aline in January.
