The overall World Cup titles will be awarded at the nine-day event, which will see two biathlon and three cross-country races held.

It comes with less than 50 days to go until the start of the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang.

Some teams will be absent as they step up their final preparations for Pyeongchang 2018, which is scheduled to take place from March 9 to 18. 

It means the main spotlight will now be on the Ukrainian athletes, some of which have a real chance to capture the overall titles in their classes if they obtain good results.

The Ukrainian team missed the season's opener in Canmore in Canada, but registered several podium finishes in German town Oberried last month.

Russia's Stanislav Chokhlaev and Mikhalina Lysova, competing as neutrals due to the suspension of the Russian Paralympic Committee following the doping scandal in the country, are currently the leaders in the visually impaired events.

There are plenty of others ready to challenge their dominance, though.

On the men's side, Chokhlaev's main challenge could come from Sweden’s cross-country specialist Zebastian Modin and Ukraine’s Iurii Utkin and Anatolii Kovalevskyi.

All three won events at the most recent World Cup stop in Oberried and are in good form to try and climb higher in the standings.

In the women’s races, it is again Ukrainian athletes who are leading the chasing pack behind Lysova. 

Oksana Shyshkova won silver medals in the cross-country and biathlon races in Oberried, while Natalia Rubanovska claimed bronze in the middle-distance biathlon.

Austria’s Carina Edlinger, who won two bronze medals in the cross-country races in Oberried and also secured podium finishes in Canmore, is also expected to put on a strong showing in Vuokatti.

In the sitting cross-country and biathlon events, the United States’ Oksana Masters looks on course to grab the overall titles after capturing 10 out of the possible 12 golds at the two earlier World Cup stops.

Even though she will not race in Vuokatti, Masters’ performance in both disciplines has been so dominant that she will be hard to dislodge from top spot in the final rankings.

Her absence does leave the door ajar for other athletes to collect points and inch closer in the standings, however.

Among them is Norway’s Birgit Skarstein, who won one silver and two bronze medals in the cross-country events in Oberried.

On the men’s side, the leader to catch will be Russia’s Ivan Golubkov and there are several athletes in position to challenge him in the points count, including Sin Eui-Hyun of South Korea, and Ukraine’s Taras Rad and Maksym Yarovyi.

Ukrainian athletes will also be among the main challengers in the standing events.

Yuliia Batenkova-Bauman collected one gold and silver in the cross-country races in Oberried, as well as silver in biathlon.

Iryna Bui has three bronze medals, two in biathlon and one in cross-country, while Liudmyla Liashenko earned a cross-country gold.

Their team-mate Ihor Reptyukh is expected to be a strong force in the men’s events, especially in the absence of multi-medallist Benjamin Daviet of France.

Finnish spectators are also likely to be focusing closely on the races of local star Ilkka Tuomisto.

The soon to be four-time Paralympian specialises in cross-country and has already claimed a bronze and silver in Oberried.