“The skis went fast and the pellets went straight. Amazing what happens when you don’t spend the entire race doing penalty loops,” laughed Weekes. “The race went exactly as planned and considering it was my fifth race in six days, I was surprised with the energy I had to keep the skis going and hold the technique together. It was a successful breakthrough day in the office.”

The North Vancouver resident has been mixing it up with the top girls in the world in her first full season on the IPC World Cup. On Sunday she fought through changing temperatures and a hard-packed course.

“I’d like to think that I am getting used to skiing against these girls! It was really great to have a larger field here and see how I size up to them,” said Weekes, who started cross-country skiing after a wrestling training injury that caused nerve damage to her right arm. “I surprised myself a lot here. But I owe a lot of my success to the wax techs, coaching and support staff because without the numerous hours they put in to getting us to the start line it wouldn’t have been possible!”

Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova won the women’s standing race with a time of 30:50.5. Russia’s Anna Milenina was second at 31:42.4, while Ukraine’s Liudmyla Liashenko skied to the bronze medal with a time of 32:26.1.

Two Canadians hit the start line for the men’s middle distance biathlon sit ski race. Derek Zaplotinsky, of Smokey Lake, Alta., picked off 17 targets en route to finishing ninth with a time of 44:09.3. Colin Cameron, of Sudbury, Ont., placed 11th (59:56.0).

Russia’s Grigory Murygin won the men’s sit-ski classification with a time of 36:38.3.