By Paul Osborne

Australia's Toby Kane paid a perfect tribute to his team-mate Matthew Robinson with victory in the super-combined event at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals ©Getty ImagesFebruary 26 - Australian Toby Kane paid the perfect tribute to his snowboarding team-mate Matthew Robinson today as he secured a stunning victory in the super-combined event on the final day of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals in Tarvisio, Italy.


Kane was donning a sky blue armband during the race in honour of his compatriot Robinson, who died during a specially arranged flight home to Melbourne after he underwent surgery on serious neck and spinal injuries following a crash during the IPC Adaptive Snowboard (IPCAS) World Cup Finals in La Molina, Spain.

Building on his third place in the downhill on the opening day, Kane finished just one hundredth of a second ahead of Russia's Alexey Bugaev to secure the top spot on the podium with Austria's Markus Salacher, who claimed victory in both the downhill events yesterday, to claim third.

"It was a tough super-G competition and even tougher slalom, but a really good day for me, and I ended up winning by one-hundredth of a second," Kane said.

"I'm ecstatic.

"It means a lot to be able to honour Matt and to keep skiing and riding like he did.

"He's in our thoughts all the way to Sochi [2014] and we're going to try our best for him."

Second place in the women's standing event was enough for Russia's Inga Medvedeva to claim the overall super-combined World Cup title ©Getty ImagesSecond place in the women's standing event was enough for Russia's Inga Medvedeva to claim the overall super-combined World Cup title ©Getty Images



A second place in the women's standing event was enough for Russia's Inga Medvedeva to secure the overall World Cup super-combined title.

The Russian, winner of both races on the opening day, finished behind America's Allison Jones with her team-mate Maria Papulov finishing third to leap frog France's Marie Bouchet in the overall rankings.

Austria's triple world champion sit-skier Claudia Loesch followed up her two wins from yesterday with yet another victory in today's super-combined event.

The Austrian, who holds the Paralympic titles in both the Super-G and slalom, finished ahead of the American pair of Laurie Stephens and Stephanie Victor.

Two consistent runs from Canada's Mac Marcoux, with guide Robin Femy, in the men's visually impaired competition saw him claim top spot ahead of Slovakia's super-combined Paralympic champion Jakub Krako, who was guided by Martin Motyka.

After a brilliant start in the super-G event, America's Mark Bathum, alongside guide Cade Yamamoto, dropped from first to third as he could only manage sixth in the slalom.

In a repeat of the results from the downhill contest, Russia's Aleksandra Frantceva and guide Pavel Zabotin again finished ahead of the US husband and wife pairing of Danielle and Rob Umstead to secure the overall super-combined World Cup title in the women's visually impaired event.

Less than two seconds separated the first and third spot in the men's sitting contest as Canada's Josh Dueck edged ahead of the Japanese duo of Akira Kano and Takeshi Suzuki.

The next competition for the alpine skiers will be the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games which is due to get underway on March 8 at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
February 2014: Dominant start for Russian skiers at IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup finals
February 2014: Para-snowboarder Robinson dies en route to Melbourne