China's Para biathlete Liu wins men's individual sitting at Beijing 2022

CHONGLI, Zhangjiakou, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Liu Mengtao, 20, has become the first Chinese Para biathlete to win three medals (two golds and a bronze) at a Winter Paralympic Games, after claiming the men's individual sitting title at Beijing 2022 here on Friday.

Having taken the sprint bronze on March 5 and the middle distance gold on March 8, Paralympic debutant Liu finished first in the 12.5km race in 38 minutes and 29.4 seconds without missing a single shot in the four rounds of prone shooting.

22-year-old Taras Rad from Ukraine who was the gold medalist in the race at PyeongChang 2018, settled for silver this time in 39:13.9, also with a clean sheet of shooting. Rad had also finished second in the sprint and third in the middle distance at Beijing 2022.

24-year-old Liu Zixu, who had grabbed the first-ever Paralympic individual gold for China in the men's sprint sitting on March 5, took the bronze in 39:35.5 with one shot missing.

A total of 20 biathletes from China, Ukraine, Canada, Kazakhstan, Germany, South Korea, Britain, and the United States attended the men's individual sitting race on Friday.