Cross Country Canada — Emily Weekes places ninth, Brittany Hudak 10th in women’s standing—

VUOKATTI, Fin.—Canada’s Mark Arendz had a solid opening day in fifth, but is left searching for much stronger performances throughout the rest of the week at the IPC World Cup Finals in Vuokatti, Finland.

Arendz, of Hartsville, P.E..I., dropped out of medal contention with a costly miss in each of his two trips to the range to finish with a time of 20:30.6 in the men’s standing 7.5 kilometre race.

“Going into today I felt I had a lot more. The body felt ready to go, but it didn’t materialize in today’s race,” said the 26-year-old Islander. “I was close on the skiing, but I’m still finding myself needing to tweak my shooting. Two misses is two too many for me right now.”

Ihor Reptyukh, of the Ukraine, clocked the winning time of 18:49.5 after a perfect day of shooting. Russia’s Vladislav Lekomtsev missed two in his opening round of shots, but battled back into the silver medal position on the podium with strong ski speed to post a time of 19:20.2. Benjamin Daviet, of France, was third at 19:39.6 (0+1).

Canada’s young guns on the Para-Nordic circuit – Emily Weekes and Brittany Hudak – finished ninth and 10th respectively in the women’s 6-kilometre standing race.

Weekes, a World Cup rookie from North Vancouver, struggled in her final round of shooting where she missed three targets to post a ninth-place time of 23:56.8. The 22-year-old Hudak, of Prince Albert, Sask., missed two in both rounds of shots to finish with a time 25:21.4 for 10th.

Oleksandra Kononova, of the Ukraine, posting a winning time of 20:53.2.

Derek Zaplotinsky, of Smokey Lake, Alta., missed three and two in shooting to finish 15h at 33:57.4 in the men’s 7.5 kilometre sit-ski biathlon sprint race.

For complete results, please visit http://live.eqtiming.no/24571#result

The IPC World Cup Finals continue on Wednesday with the biathlon long distance races.

CCC is the governing body of cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal winter sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities, including those on Canada’s National Ski Teams and Para-Nordic Ski Teams. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, and Mackenzie Investments – along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, CCC develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on CCC, please visit us at www.cccski.com.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Chris Dornan

Media and Public Relations

Cross Country Canada

T: 403-620-8731