American athletes dominated in the middle distance sitting events, with Daniel Cnossen first to triumph in the men's event.

Cnossen, who missed out of a medal at the recent World Championships, was first to the finish of the 10 kilometres event, finishing in a time of 30min 17.8sec.

He was trailed by Canada's Chris Klebl whose time of 30:31.2 proved enough to secure the silver medal from Russia's Alexey Bychenok, a further seven seconds behind and who took bronze.

In the women's competition, Oksana Masters of the US continues to have the edge over Marlann Marthinsen, her rival from Norway, beating her once again to the top of the podium, this time in the 5km event.

Masters time of 16min 36.4sec was enough to finish 15sec clear of the Norwegian, while the podium was completed by Russia's Natalia Kocherova.

The three women are the current top three in the overall standings, with the World Cup Finals on the horizon in Surnadal, Norway, from March 16 to 22.

American Oksana Masters won again in the women's 10 kilometres sitting competition at the IPC Nordic Skiing World Cup in Asahikawa ©Getty Images



Elsewhere, there was glory for Russia's standing athletes as Rushan Minnegulov took the men's title, while his compatriot Ekaterina Rumyantseva was winner of the women's competition.

Minnegulov finished in the gold medal position after posting a time of 24:08.2sec, while France's Benjamin Daviet and Russia's Vladislav Lekomtcev were second and third respectively.

Rumyantseva's win in the women's standing event could prove to be vital in the overall standings after it gave her a two point advantage over Canada's Brittany Hudak with the World Cup Finals just a month away.

Hudak was runner up to Rumyantseva in Asahikawa and Japan's Yurika Abe secured bronze in front of a home crowd.

France's Anthony Chalencon was also a winner on the final day of competition as, alongside his guide Lucas Dupperex, he closed the deficit on the runner up and current World Cup leader Eirik Bye in the men's visually impaired standings, while Japan's Kazuto Takamura earned his first World Cup podium in third.

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