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<\/p>\nA\u00a0top 10\u00a0finish for Lauren Parker and a\u00a0top 20\u00a0for Dave Miln gave Australia a solid day of skiing and shooting in the 12.5km\u00a0individual biathlon event at\u00a0Tesero\u00a0Cross-Country Stadium\u00a0on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parker,\u00a0with barely six months on snow since transitioning from Para triathlon, and\u00a0Miln\u00a0with just 18 months\u00a0on snow\u00a0after surviving an horrific accident, showed the potential they have in winter sport with their performances among the elite of the Paralympic world today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The third Australian to compete in\u00a0individual,\u00a0Taryn Dickens\u00a0and guide Lynn Maree Cullen, finished 13th\u00a0in a field of 13 vision\u00a0impaired athletes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cInternational Women\u2019s Day, what a day to be racing!\u201d Dickens said, clutching a small bouquet of alpine flowers presented to all competitors by the Milano\u00a0Cortina organising committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow good to be a woman? My narrative is all about\u00a0\u2018it doesn\u2019t matter your age, what you look like, how you feel in\u00a0lycra, or if you have two legs or four\u00a0\u2013\u00a0none of it matters,\u201d she said,\u00a0giving service dog Gigi a warm hug and cuddle as she spoke.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJust get out there have fun and smile.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0all beautiful, strong women.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd,\u00a0I\u2019ve got one of the best of them in my guide (Cullen) who\u2019s with me the whole race and just excited to be out there with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2769143.jpg\")
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Miln\u00a0finished 20th behind gold medallist Zixu Lui\u00a0of China,\u00a0in the 27-strong field,\u00a0missing only three of his 20 shots on target, while showing good speed around five laps of the\u00a0Tesero\u00a0course.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m under 18 months on snow post-accident so I\u2019m still in the very early stages in terms of mastering the craft,\u201d said\u00a0Miln, who had both legs amputated after he used his body to shield his two young daughters when the trio rounded a bend at a Californian ski resort and met a snow plough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The challenge and enjoyment\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0getting from Nordic sport means\u00a0Miln\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0intend stopping at his first Winter Paralympics.\u00a0He\u2019s\u00a0after a spot on the Australian Para triathlon team for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an amazing experience \u2026 and the potential for what\u2019s ahead excites me, not only Winter but when I get\u00a0home,\u00a0I\u2019ll start to get back into triathlon and look at Summer as well,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll\u00a0follow Lauren but do it in reverse.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a lot of training time between now and then but it would be nice to do triathlon in LA and then come back to another Winter (2030 French Alps) and then maybe another Summer in Brisbane (2032).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to have a focus; to have goals and work towards them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2768957.jpg\")
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Parker set herself a goal of making a successful switch between Games. She\u00a0won medals\u00a0at both\u00a0the\u00a0Tokyo and Paris Summer Games and is now at her first Winter Paralympics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She finished 9th\u00a0on Sunday in a field of 12 after shooting 15 from 20 targets\u00a0\u2013\u00a0each miss is a minute penalty\u00a0\u2013\u00a0so a clean slate would have moved her up into 6th.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI put a lot of expectation on\u00a0myself,\u00a0I guess. I am disappointed only because I shot better in Canada (World Cup) than here,\u201d Parker said referring to missing only two targets in December last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI set the bar there and I always want to do better than my\u00a0previous\u00a0event.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI improved from yesterday (13th 7.5km\u00a0sprint) and I\u00a0have to\u00a0be happy with a top\u00a010 finish at my first Paralympics, less than 12 months on snow and only my second\u00a0individual biathlon ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very new, so I can\u2019t be too hard on myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parker\u2019s two Paris gold medals (triathlon, road cycling) meant she became the first Australian to stand on top of the dais in two different sports at the same Paralympic Games since Vic\u00a0Renalson\u00a0in 1968 (athletics and weightlifting).\u00a0<\/p>\n
While not willing to claim those heights just yet in Winter sport, she feels improvement in her skiing with every outing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miln\u00a0also improved his position in the 12.5km event from 26th in the 7.5km yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing for me, off the back of yesterday\u2019s race, was the lessons I learned and put a lot of them into practice today. I\u00a0basically skied\u00a0a lot better, shot a lot better,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still more lessons from today \u2013 I\u2019ll take\u00a0those forward\u00a0to Friday (sprint\u00a0pursuit).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Monday\u00a0March 9 is a day off for\u00a0Para\u00a0Nordic competitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Australians will return on Tuesday for the first of three\u00a0Para\u00a0cross-country events\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the\u00a0sprint.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By: Margie McDonald, Paralympic<\/p>\n
Published: 9 March 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0top 10\u00a0finish for Lauren Parker and a\u00a0top 20\u00a0for Dave Miln gave Australia a solid day of skiing and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-527239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}