Kazakhstan's skier wins gold at Winter Universiade in Italy

A skier from East Kazakhstan Oblast has won the gold medal in the skiathlon competition at the Winter Universiade in Italy, Vesti.kz reports. Kazakhstan athlete Tatyana Osipova gained gold at the World Winter Universiade, that is taking place in Trentino, Italy. She performed within the students' national team of Kazakhstan in the 10km skiathlon competition. The competition pursuits two different skiing techniques: the first half of the distance is skied in classic style, and then the athletes change equipment and continue the race in freestyle. The Kazakhstan athlete manged to leave behind the competitors from Ukraine and France. Osipova was assisted in keeping her leading position during by her teammates - skiers from East Kazakhstan Oblast, Marina Matrosova and Victoria Lanchakova - during most part of the race. In the end Marina Matrosova won the 4th place and Victoria Lanchakova finished in the 5th place. Mark Starostin from Kazakhstan's Ridder city brought silver medal to the Kazakhstan national team. He won the 15km skiathlon competition. He was racing against Russian skiers Raul Shakirzyanov (gold) and Pavel Syulatov (bronze) in the final part of the distance. The pre-Olympic Winter Universiade in Italy started of December 11 and will be finish on December 21, 2013.