Marta Zaynullina (born 30 July 1990) is a Russian Paralympic cross-country skier and

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

. She represented Russia at the 2014 Winter Paralympics which was held in her home nation and competed in the

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

and

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

events. She claimed a bronze medal in the women's 1km sprint sitting classic event during the 2014 Winter Paralympics. She also competed as a neutral athlete in the 2018 Winter Paralympics.

Biography

Marta Zaynullina was born on the 30th of July, 1990 in

Nizhnekamsk Nizhnekamsk ( rus, Нижнекамск, p=nʲɪʐnʲɪˈkamsk; tt-Cyrl, Түбән Кама, ''Tübän Qama'') is a city in Tatarstan, Russia, located to the south of the Kama River between the cities of Naberezhnye Chelny and Chistopol. Popul ...

as a twin child just a few minutes after her twin brother's birth. At the age of 14, she was found to have a

Malignant tumour Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

in her hip which eventually caused amputation to her legs. She was advised by the fellow Russian Paralympic cross-country skier, Irina Polyakova to take the sport of Paralympic cross-country skiing who later went onto become an official coach to Marta Zaynullina.

Honours

Zaynullina has received several awards for her performance in the winter Paralympic games. She was given the

Order for Merit to the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

class II in 2014 in recognition of her achievements at the 2014 Paralympics. In 2018, she received two further honours for her performance in the 2018 Winter Paralympics: the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" class I and award from the

Republic of Tatarstan The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...

References

External links

* 1990 births Living people Russian female cross-country skiers Russian female biathletes Paralympic cross-country skiers for Russia Paralympic biathletes for Russia Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Cross-country skiers at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Biathletes at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Paralympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for Russia People from Nizhnekamsk Paralympic medalists in cross-country skiing Paralympic medalists in biathlon Sportspeople from Tatarstan 21st-century Russian women {{Russia-wintersport-bio-stub