January 05, 2015 (Soldier Hollow, Utah) – On Sunday, Soldier Hollow Resort played host to the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Nationals & NorAm cross-country Sprint competition on Day 2 in terrific conditions on a technical course with an international field represented by athletes from the USA, Canada, and Finland.

Winning the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Nationals was Dan Cnossen over teammate Andy Soule (2nd) who was the fastest qualifier on the day, and Aaron Pike who finished 3rd.   Dan has been stationed in San Diego this fall and unable to get on snow until this event, and is very pleased with where he is at at this point.

Dan commented after his victory, “I was not happy with my qualifier performance, which included a crash on the final turn, but I skied the heats very well.  I really like having people to chase down, giving me a target for how fast I need to go to get the line first.  Today was fun and helps me build confidence as we prepare for World Championships.”

Sini Pyy of Team Finland was the fastest women sit skier on the course today, winning over new comer Brittany Fisher of the local University of Utah TRAILS program who took 2nd in the NorAm event, but wins the U.S. National title as the first American finisher.

The Women’s field has been limited with defending National Sprint Champion Tatyana McFadden out sick this week, and recent IPC World Cup podium performer Oksana Masters recovering from a recent injury.  Jataya Taylor was set to race again today but suffered a crash just before the start which left her with broken equipment and unable to start.

The Standing class NorAm competition was well contested with Canadian and US athletes on course mixing it up, with Emily Weekes & Andy Lin taking the victories on this classical completion day.

Monday will serve up a short cross-country competition with 2.5km for women and 5km for men.  Tuesday will be a day off then the competitions will wrap up with a long cross-country competition on Wednesday.

Results can be found here.