USA claim two cross-country long distance wins

Jacob Adicoff won his first ever race, whilst Oksana Masters continued her winning run at the Para Nordic skiing World Cup. 11 Mar 2017
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A sit skier raises her arm in the air to celebrate her victory

Oksana Masters and Jacob Adicoff enjoyed a great day at the PyeongChang 2018 Test Event and World Cup, grabbing a gold each.

ⒸPOCOG
By IPC

“It was really hard but great, I did good and I am happy,”

The USA’s Para Nordic skiers secured two wins in the cross-country skiing long distance on Saturday (11 March), the second day of competition at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games Test Event and World Cup.

Jacob Adicoff (1:00:16.9), guided by Sawyer Kesselheim, won the first race of his career in the men's visually impaired. He beat Sweden’s World Championships silver medallist Zebastian Modin (1:02:43.9) with guide Johannes Andersson into second.

“I am feeling tired. It was a good race, a lot of fun. It is good to be here testing the course ahead of next year's Paralympic Winter Games,” Adicoff said.

“Winning this race is a confidence boost for me.”

France's two-time Paralympic bronze medallist Thomas Clarion (1:03:28.7), guided by Antoine Bollet, completed the podium.

Modin remains at the top of the World Cup rankings however, followed by Clarion.

The second US skier to top the podium was triple World Championships gold medallist Oksana Masters (41:02.1), in the women's sitting.

The overall rankings leader was followed by Germany's Andrea Eskau (42:13.3) and Norway's Birgit Skarstein (42:41.0).

South Korea's Eui Hyun Sin (45:41.2) delighted the home crowds to claim his third World Cup victory of the season in the men's equivalent. He remains No.2 in the rankings.

“The race went very well. Much better than the World Cups in Europe because it is my country and I do not have to get used to the food and the time,” Sin said. The 36-year-old finished ahead of USA´s Andrew Soule (46:09.6) and Canada´s Chris Klebl (46:15.3).

Austria's Carina Edlinger (56:05.1), guided by her brother Julian Edlinger, continued her winning run after claiming two golds at last February's Worlds.

“It was really hard but great, I did good and I am happy,” Edlinger said of her second World Cup win of the season.

The 18-year-old also shortened the gap between her and Ukraine's overall rankings No.1 Oksana Shyshkova (1:02:08.6), guided by Volodymyr Ivanov, who finished third. Shyshkova's teammate Olga Prylutska (1:00:08.3) and guide Oleksandr Mukshyn ended second.

France's Benjamin Daviet (56:35.8) added a second win to his haul from PyeongChang in the men's standing, following his victory in the biathlon sprint on Friday (10 March).

Ukraine's World Cup No.1 Ihor Reptyukh (59:58.9) was second. Canada's double World Championships cross-country bronze medallist Mark Arendz (1:00:02.5) completed the podium.

Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova (55:29.2) secured her latest win in the women’s standing and comfortably remains top of the overall rankings. Her compatriot Iuliia Batenkova (56:53.4) and Japan's Momoko Dekijima (57:34.4) finished second and third, respectively.

Competition will resume on Monday (13 March) with the cross-country sprint races.

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

Pictures are available from PyeongChang 2018.