Cameron, Sakhanenka claim first victories

Canada’s Collin Cameron and Belarusian Sviatlana Sakhanenka rose to the top of the sprint cross-country skiing podium on Monday (13 March), taking their first career victories at the Para Nordic skiing World Cup in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Cameron was the fastest in the men’s sitting for his maiden win, which comes in only his second season on the international circuit.

The 28-year-old was followed by US teammates Daniel Cnossen and Andrew Soule in second and third, respectively.

Despite finishing in sixth place, Ukraine’s Maksym Yarovyi is still the World Cup No.1.

The USA’s Oksana Masters continued her winning ways in the women’s sitting after sealing a hat-trick of titles at February’s World Championships in Finsterau, Germany. She secured a second win in PyeongChang, which is also the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games Test Event.

The 27-year-old finished ahead of Germany’s Sochi 2014 cross-country gold medallist Andrea Eskau and Belarus’ Finsterau 2017 bronze medallist Lidziya Hrafeyeva.

Masters maintains a comfortable lead at the top of the World Cup overall rankings.

Sakhanenka topped the women’s visually impaired podium with guide Iryna Nafranovich. The Belarusian only made her World Cup debut in January, before going on to claim two medals at the World Championships.

Austria’s two-time world champion Carina Edlinger and guide Julian Edlinger, and Ukraine’s World Cup No.1 Oksana Shyshkova, guided by Volodymyr Ivanov, completed the top-three.

The USA’s Jacob Adicoff, guided by Sawyer Kesselheim, added a second victory to his haul in PyeongChang, winning the men’s visually impaired.

Belarus’ Yury Holub and guide Dzmitry Budzilovich, and Ukraine’s Iurii Utkin, guided by Ruslan Perekhoda, followed him onto the podium.

Ukrainian couple Oleksandra Kononova and Grygorii Vovchynskyi, who married in 2011, won the women’s and men’s cross-country sprint standing events, respectively.

Double cross-country Paralympic champion Kononova secured her second win of the competition, seemingly unstoppable at the top of the rankings.

Canada’s Emily Young and Kononova’s compatriot and world champion Liudmyla Liashenko completed the podium.

Vovchynskyi claimed his third World Cup win of the season, moving closer to Ukraine’s rankings leader Ihor Reptyukh, who finished third. Japan’s Yoshihiro Nitta was second.

Competition will continue on Tuesday (14 March) with the biathlon Individual races.

Live results from the World Cup are available at World Para Nordic Skiing’s website.

Pictures are available here.