June 18, 2019 (Colordao Springs, Colo.) — U.S. Paralympics, a division of the United States Olympic Committee, today announced the five Para Nordic skiers named to the national team and two skiers named to the development team for the 2019-20 season. All seven athletes represented Team USA at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

“We are thrilled to be moving into the 2019-20 season with a strong contingent of returning athletes,” said Eileen Carey, director of U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing. “We are adding rookie Ruslan Reiter to our ranks, marking the first standing athlete to make a national team standard in the recent past. We hope he represents the beginning of a new wave of standing and visually impaired skiers to add to the successes of our sit ski program.”

The team is led by Paralympic gold medalists Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky), Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Illinois) and Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kansas). At the 2019 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships, Masters won five world titles (middle-distance biathlon, middle-distance cross-country, cross-country sprint, biathlon sprint and long-distance cross-country) and garnered six total medals in Prince George, British Columbia.

returned home as the 2019 world champion in the women’s sitting class of individual biathlon and additionally secured podium finishes in each of her events, claiming four silvers and one bronze.

Cnossen, a retired Navy SEAL, won a pair of medals at the world championships, racing to silver in the men’s sitting class of the middle-distance cross-country and cross-country sprint races. Pike secured the first world championships medal of his career – the bronze medal in the biathlon sprint – at the 2019 world championships.

Ruslan Reiter (Manchester, Maine) has been elevated to the national C team and marks the first standing athlete to make a national team in recent history.

The 2019-20 world cup season kicks off in December and will feature three stops, while the 2020 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships will be held in Ostersund, Sweden in March 2020.

2019-20 U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing National Team
*Denotes U.S. Paralympian in Nordic skiing
# Denotes retired U.S. Military

A Team
*Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kan./Navy) – sitting
*Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Ill.) – sitting
*Oksana Masters (Louisville, Ky.) – sitting

B Team
*Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minn.) – sitting

C Team
*Ruslan Reiter (Manchester, Maine) – standing

2019-20 U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Development Team
*Grace Miller (Palmer, Alaska) – standing
*Joy Rondeau (Granby, Colo.) – sitting