Cross Country Skiing in Alpensia

I had the privilege of attending Cross-Country Skiing, Men's 15km seated and Women's 12km seated on Sunday, March 11 at Alpensia Biathalon Centre. This sporting event was thrilling to watch as skiiers strived for excellence, changing position with best times. According to the International Paralympic Committee, "competitions are open to athletes with a physical impairment and blindness/vision impairment. Depending on his or her functional impairment, a competitor may or may not use a sit-ski, a chair equipped with a pair of skis. Athletes with vision impairment compete in the event with a sighted guide."

View para-cross country skiing (IPC YouTube)

Regarding Men's 15km Sitting, host Nation South Korea earned bronze represented by hometown favorite SIN Eui Hyun. The U.S. and Daniel CNOSSEN earned the Silver medal and Maksym YAROVYI of Ukraine earned Gold. 

Biathalon Centre in Alpensia, site of Cross-Country Skiing today

Para-cross-country skiiers at the mark awaiting starting signal

Consider the upper body strength required to propel
oneself through wet snow!

Since skiiers start at different times, it is not the first who crosses the finish line,
but the FASTEST who earn medals!

Fans are ready despite -1C weather!

Who is that behind the Foster Grants?

The Korean unification flag is a popular novelty with all fans

Canadian athletes root for a teammate

Bandabi helps us to celebrate the victory of Daniel Cnossen of Team USA!

Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists receive fan applause

Women skiiers climbing slippery hill on
the challenging course

Enthusiastic athletes and families cheer for Republic of Kazakhstan
and also other paralympians!

First finishers of Womens 12km seated cross-country

Athletes from Norway enjoy the competition

Winners of the Women's 12km Sitting were Kendall GRETSCH of the U.S., who earned Gold, Andrea ESKAU of Germany earning Silver, and Oksana MASTERS, who received the Bronze medal for the U.S. 

Women medalists enjoy celebration following a tough race

Today, I look forward to ice hockey mixed preliminary round, USA vs. Czech Republic, at Gangneung Hockey Centre.

10:00	Alpensia Biathlon Centre		Men's 15km, Sitting UKR Maksym YAROVYI (LW10)  USA Daniel CNOSSEN (LW12)  KOR SIN Eui Hyun (LW12)		Finished
11:15	Alpensia Biathlon Centre		Women's 12km, Sitting USA Kendall GRETSCH (LW11.5)  GER Andrea ESKAU (LW11)  USA Oksana MASTERS (LW12)

Women's 4 X 5km Relay an Exciting Competition!

From PyeongChang and Reuters, Women's 4 X 5km Medalists:

Norwegian flag [flaginstitute.org]

1.   Norway
Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg/Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen/Ragnhild Haga/Marit Bjoergen           51 minutes 24.3 seconds 

2.   Sweden
Anna Haag/Charlotte Kalla/Ebba Andersson/Stina Nilsson                                     51:26.3                 

3.   Olympic Athlete from Russia
Natalia Nepryaeva/Yulia Belorukova/Anastasia Sedova/Anna Nechaevskaya        52:07.6                

From Olympic News: 

MARIT BJOERGEN SKIED A TRIUMPHANT FINAL LEG TO WRITE HER NAME INTO THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES HISTORY BOOKS, DELIVERING GOLD FOR NORWAY IN THE WOMEN'S 4X5KM CROSS COUNTRY RELAY AT THE ALPENSIA CROSS COUNTRY CENTRE ON SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY. IN DOING SO, SHE JOINED COUNTRYMAN OLE EINAR BJOERNDALEN AS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WINTER OLYMPIAN OF ALL TIME ON 13 MEDALS.

Sweden took silver and finished two seconds behind, after fantastic legs by Charlotte Kalla, Ebba Andersson and Stina Nilsson, while Olympic Athlete from Russia came third to take the bronze, 43.3 seconds behind the winners.

Norway missed out on a medal four years ago at Sochi 2014 and looked to be struggling again in the first two legs in PyeongChang. However, Ragnhild Haga, who won gold in the women's 10km free, managed to close the gap to 3.4 seconds in the third leg before she handed over to Bjoergen, with Sweden in the lead, and 0.3 seconds ahead of OAR.

The 37-year-old Bjoergen accelerated up the first hill with Nilsson snapping at her heels at the front of the field, but Olympic sprint champion Nilsson had no answer, and Bjoergen rounded the final corner and sped over the line for victory.     MORE