FIS Para Nordic World Championships awards first Cross Country medals
Jan 25, 2023·Para Cross-Country
The FIS Para Nordic World Ski Championships in Oestersund (SWE)staged its first FIS competition on Sunday with the 18km classic races for men and women.
It was an impressive mix of nations showing their strength throughout the day as eight different nations landed on the podium over the six medal events.
First up was the men’s sitting competition, where Italy’s Giuseppe Romele put on a show with a finish time of 50:17.3, claiming the gold by a more than three-minute margin ahead of Collin Cameron (CAN). Ukraine’s Pavlo Bal rounded out the medal table with the bronze medal.
In the women’s sitting competition, American Kendall Gretsch also enjoyed an easy victory with a margin of victory of 3:34.3 ahead of German Anja Wicker. Brazilian Aline do Santos Rocha grabbed the bronze medal.
The day moved on with the two Classic IV competitions as Zebastian Modin (SWE) earned the first medal for the host nation taking home the gold ahead of American Jake Adicoff, who was 2:17 off the winning pace. Thomas Oxaal earned Norway’s first Cross country medal of the Championships with the bronze effort. Linn Kazmaier took the women's gold medal ahead of German teammate Leonie Maria Walter.
Inspired by her teammate’s bronze performance, Vilde Nilsen (NOR) claimed the gold medal in the women’s standing category – it was one of the closest race of the day as only a 1:26 margin separated her from silver medalist Natalie Wilkie (CAN). Wilkie’s teammate Brittany Hudak joined her on the podium with the bronze medal,
In the men's standing competitions, Witold Skupien (POL) earned bragging rights for winning the gold medal by the slimmest margin of the day with a 27.4 second gap ahead of Taiki Kawayoke. Ukraine's Grgorii Vovvchynskyi claimed the bronze medal.
The Para Nordic World Championships continue with the sprint competitions on Tuesday 24th January.
