February 25, 2019 (Prince George, B.C.) – Two-time Paralympic champion Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) put on a show at the 2019 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships in Prince George, British Columbia, winning five world titles and six medals overall.

Masters raced to world titles in the women’s sitting class of middle-distance biathlon, middle-distance cross-country, cross-country sprint, biathlon sprint and long-distance cross-country. She also picked up a silver medal in individual biathlon.

Two-time Paralympic champion Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Illinois) returns home as the world champion in the women’s sitting class of individual biathlon after shooting clean. Gretsch additionally secured podium finishes in each of her events, securing four silvers and one bronze medal.

Six-time Paralympic medalist Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kansas) claimed a pair of medals, racing to silver in the men’s sitting class of the middle-distance cross-country and cross-country sprint races.

En route to the first world championships medal of his career, four-time Paralympian Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minnesota) won the bronze medal in the biathlon sprint.

Team USA will compete in the final world cup stop of the season in Sapporo, Japan, from March 12-17.

“The feeling of this world championships this year is disbelief. Today’s long-distance cross-country was a little bit of a redemption from PyeongChang 2018 where I barely made the podium and got third, which I’m so proud of. But it was the one race that I was really looking forward to and better my result from Sochi and South Korea. To be able to do it here at world championships a year later is absolutely amazing. This is the one race that I kept sitting out of during the world cups, and to be able to race it for the first time this season and win is insane,” said Masters.

“The first thing that I thought was ‘Oh, my God’ I finally did it. Finally got on the podium. The first thing I felt was relief. After all the hard work that I put in over the last few years with Nordic skiing, I felt like I could finally take a breath and pat myself on the back and enjoy it with my teammates. It was really awesome to see how happy my teammates were for the success, and how pumped the coaches were,” commented Pike.

U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Team Medal Count: 15
Gold: 6 – Oksana Masters (middle-distance biathlon, middle-distance cross-country, cross-country sprint, biathlon sprint, long-distance cross-country); Kendall Gretsch (individual biathlon)
Silver: 7 – Kendall Gretsch (middle-distance biathlon, middle-distance cross-country, biathlon sprint, long-distance cross-country); Dan Cnossen (middle-distance cross-country, cross-country sprint); Oksana Masters (individual biathlon)
Bronze: 2 – Kendall Gretsch (cross-country sprint); Aaron Pike (biathlon sprint)