PyeongChang 2018: What’s next for Nordic skiing?

After a long, hard season culminating in ten days of fabulous action at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, the cross-country skiers and biathletes can take a well-deserved break.

While many of them will be celebrating their Paralympic Games successes with friends and family or jetting off on holiday, it will not be long before their focus turns back to training.

A month is normally the maximum break any biathlete or cross-country skier will take in the spring before they go back to full-time training.

This is because they need to start preparing for the new season which gets underway later this year.

As well as the standard World Cup season the main event will see the World Championships take place in Prince George, Canada at the Otway Nordic Center from 16-24 February 2019.

It will be a fantastic opportunity for Canada's Para Nordic athletes to compete in a major Championships on home soil for the first time. After their heroics at the Paralympic Games in PyeongChang winning 16 medals it will be great for the home fans to congratulate and cheer on their favourites.

At just eight hours drive away from the national training base in Canmore, Alberta, it will be an exciting event for the likes of Mark Arendz. Not only did he win a remarkable six medals from six races in PyeongChang, including a gold medal in biathlon, he also has two World titles to defend.

In 2017 in Finsterau, Germany he won gold in both the 7.5km and the 12.5km biathlon races and will be hoping to repeat that success at home in Canada.

His teammates Collin Cameron, Brittany Hudak, Emily Young and Natalie Wilkie will also be hoping to build on their medal winning performances at the Paralympic Games.

The official site of PyeongChang 2018 can be found here.