The 49 year-old wheelchair athlete from Launceston finished 17th from a field of 30 competitors, dominated by Europeans, in a time of 44min:55.7sec.

In fact he was the only athlete from the Southern Hemisphere in the sit-skiing class for this event, won by Russian Irek Zaripov (41:01.01) - his second gold for Vancouver after taking the 2.4km pursuit sitting class in yesterday's biathlon.

Russia's Roman Petushkov (41:11.01) took the silver after leading the field up until the 12.9km mark. Bronze went to Italian Enzo Masiello (41.54.9).

Monypenny's race gave him a unique place in Australian Paralympic sport. He is only one of five athletes to make the switch from Summer to Winter Paralympics.

Two years ago and Monypenny was a rower at the Beijing Games. The strength in his upper-body and training regime made the transfer easier when he decided to take up cross-country skiing.

``That's solid, especially for someone who's only been cross-country skiing for 14 months,'' said Australian nordic coach, Dan Weiland.

``When we started this journey here in Vancouver last year (World Cup), he was second last. So we've comoe a long, long way.``It's all about experience and the guys who are winning are exceptionally good on their skis and been doing it for many years. So when you put it in perspective, Dom has come so far.

``To come to a Paralympics and go top 20 with the European talent around is great.''For the man himself, he was thrilled to compete at his first Winter Paralympics but disappointed with the result despite his fast time.

``I didn't consider it a triumph, to be honest. I always want to medal - finishing isn't good enough for me. I'm doing my best, and I'm improving,'' Monypenny said.

``I was all fired up. It as a fantastic race - really good conditions; very, very fast.

``That's the fastest I;ve ever done so hats off to the winners - they were sensational. They absolutely screamed around and I just tried to hang on for dear life.``It's a lot milder conditions than we've had previously and very still.

''He said he slept well overnight and only had a few pre-race nerves.

``I felt energized all the way through - I just couldn't go any faster. I didn't make any mistakes with alignments or falls. It was a little tricky to control the skis with the speed but I did Okay.

''He said at the start of the Games the Russians would be the ones to beat. The former Iron Curtain nation took 8 medals, including three gold, in biathlon events at Paralympic Park on the first day of competition.

``They are amazing athletes - so powerful. I worked it out mathematically that if held Irek (Zaripov), the gold winner, off for three-and-a-half laps and didn't let him get more than 25 seconds past me, I knew I'd be alright.

``He came up and took me in the second lap. In an instant I was demoralised but I just thought

`No. I'm going to hang on for as long as I can and keep fighting'.''

Source - APC

tags: olympic, paralympics, dominic, moneypenny, cross, country, whistler

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