Competing in the sitting category of the men's 2.4 kilometre pursuit, the 26-year-old Zaripov posted a time of 9min 51.0sec to finish first and take the gold in Whistler.

Iurii Kostiuk of Ukraine finished 47.9 seconds back to take silver, while Andy Soule of the United States put up a time of 10:53.1 to pick up bronze.

Zaripov lost both of his legs after a car accident in 2000.

In 2005 Russian chief coach Irina Gromova invited him to practice cross-country skiing and biathlon.

It made up for the disappointment of missing out in Turin four years ago when he failed to win a medal.

Zaripov made it three cross-country World Championships in a row last year and arrived in Vancouver coming off a World Cup season with two impressive, 45-second-plus-margin victories in cross-country, as well as a victory each in the 6.6 km biathlon and 12.5km biathlon.

Meanwhile, a dense fog just below the starthouse at Whistler Creekside led to the postponement of the downhill ski events, which are due to feature Sean Rose, one of Britain's biggest hopes of a medal at these Games.

Six medals were due to be awarded at the venue today.

But, after several lengthy delays, a decision was made to postpone the downhill, though similar weather is predicted until at least Monday.

The fog played havoc with training in the lead-up to the Games, but the men's standing class skiers were able to complete their official downhill training run this morning, after it had been delayed three times prior.

A statement from Vancouver 2010 said: "It is common in alpine skiing for events to be postponed or rescheduled due to weather and race conditions and the decision to postpone the event was made jointly by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) and VANOC.

"Both organisations will continue to monitor the weather and work within the event schedule to ensure that all alpine competitions are successfully completed on a safe and optimal field of play."


Related stories
March 2010: Putin backs Russia's Paralympic team to do country proud in Vancouver