Russian's disability rating unfair: coach

Australia's Paralympic coach says 16-year-old Russian skier Alexey Bugaev is near impossible to beat because of his disability class.

Australia's Paralympic head coach has voiced frustration with what he sees as an unfair disability rating given to the gold medallist in the men's standing slalom.

Russia's Alexey Bugaev smashed the rest of the 51-strong field on Thursday night to win the gold by 1.27 seconds.

The 16-year-old has been on fire at the Sochi Games, his win adding to silver in the downhill and bronze in Super-G secured over the weekend.

Bugaev is missing four fingers and the top of his thumb on his right hand.

His disability class is LW 6/8-2, in which athletes have an impairment in one arm and use only one ski pole, according to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Australia's Mitchell Gourley, who has a below-elbow deficiency in his left arm, is grouped in the same category in the system where the level and type of impairment is factored into athletes' times.

But Graham took issue with Bugaev's classification, saying it wasn't fair to throw him in with others who have more severe impairments.

"You look at him and he's got the least disability of anyone," Graham said.

"He's got the same disability (grading) as Mitch and he's got the tops of his fingers missing, while Mitch has got half an arm but he's got the same factor.

"He's young, he's athletic, he's a good skier and he's got minimum disability. That makes him pretty tough to beat."

With three medals, Bugaev is sitting pretty on Russian President Vladimir Putin's cash prizes for medals scheme, having so far banked nearly $250,000.


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Source: AAP

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