Paralympic champions dominate World Cup

Alumna Kendall Gretsch part of team to win gold in Ostersund

Paralympic champion Kendall Gretsch won the opening women's biathlon race of the Vuokatti World Cup © • Kimmo Rauatmaa
Paralympic champion Kendall Gretsch won the opening women's biathlon race of the Vuokatti World Cup © • Kimmo Rauatmaa

Paralympic champions Daniel Cnossen, Kendall Gretsch, Benjamin Daviet and Oleksandra Kononova took gold at the World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup in Ostersund, Sweden, on Sunday (13 January).

It was the second time topping the podium on Swedish soil for the US PyeongChang 2018 gold medallist Cnossen.

The 38-year-old was the fastest in the men´s cross-country long distance sitting, repeating his result from the middle distance race on Saturday. He finished ahead of Germany´s Paralympic champion Martin Fleig and Ukraine's Vasyl Kravchuk.

"Both days were very tough races," said Cnossen, who has so far won four out of five cross-country races this season.

“I had close competition with my teammate Aaron (Pike) yesterday and with Martin Fleig today. Every lap I would get updates with my coaches and know where I was standing and I just tried to push myself harder and harder each lap and have a smart pacing approach to the race.

"It was tough. We had snowfall and as the race went on the course got a little slower with the new snow so that made it very challenging."

Cnossen's teammate Kendall Gretsch matched his result in the women's sitting, winning by a big margin of 1 minute and 8 seconds from Norway's Birgit Skarstein. German Andrea Eskau was third.

 

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