Taiki Kawayoke didn’t need poles to fly up the hills.
The wings he had on his skis did the job just fine.
The Japanese roadrunner left a cloud of snow dust at his feet in Sunday’s World Para Nordic Skiing Championships men’s standing 20-kilometre cross-county race to claim gold for Japan for the first time at Otway Nordic Centre.
Canada’s Mark Arendz did all he could to try to make up enough time on Kawayoke but came up one position short of his first world championships victory.
Kawayoke, 18, melted the classic technique course, finishing in 54 minutes 1.9 seconds, 21 seconds ahead of Arendz (54:21.4). Grygorii Vovchynskyi of Ukraine (55:36.0) claimed bronze.
“I knew I had a 28-second lead over Mark but when I went down the hill it shrunk to 17 seconds, so it was pretty close,” said Kawayoke, through an interpreter. “I knew I was beating him on the upslope so I just gave it my best shot all the way.
“I’m just happy, I don’t know what other words to say. My legs are really sore.”
He was certainly deserving of a post-race massage after nearly an hour on the slopes trying to hold off Arendz.
Arendz said the 20km course and its short climbs and tight corners kept him on his toes and didn’t allow any extended stretches where he could take a rest break but he was able to maintain his momentum and keep the pressure on Kawayoke.
“He got me on some of those climbs,” said the 28-year-old native of Hartsville, P.E.I.
“I got taken by surprise by a couple of early laps by Taiki and just tried to claw my way back the last three laps but just couldn’t find that extra little bit to take that win here. I know he’s a strong fighter and he’s going to hang on with everything he has. He’s a great young talent Japan has found and he’ll be a contender in the next few years.”
Arendz capped off his best-ever world championships with his fourth silver medal to go with two bronze in a week of racing on home soil.
“It’s been fantastic, I’m extremely happy,” he said. “I think it shows a lot of consistency. It would have been nice to get that one next step in a couple of these races but I’m happy. This is a great place to be a year after the (Paralympic) Games and I’m looking forward to three years from now (at the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing).”
Natalie Wilkie of Salmon Arm saved her best race for the last day, winning silver in the women’s standing 15km race – her first individual event world championship medal.
Vilde Nilsen of Norway (50:36.7) won her third gold of the week, 36.2 seconds ahead of Wilkie (51:10.0). Bronze went to Liudmyla Liashenko of Ukraine (51:56.5). Emily Young of North Vancouver was fifth (54:02.3) and Brittany Hudak of Prince Albert, Sask., was sixth (54:03.7).
“It feels amazing, I need a nap now,” said Wilkie, who combined with Arendz, Young and Collin Cameron to win silver in the mixed relay Saturday.
“It’s awesome, my family’s here cheering me on and they were literally at every corner yelling at me. My race family was yelling too and everybody was cheering, just ‘Go Canada.’ It was pretty amazing.”
The 18-year-old high school student closed the gap considerably on Nilsen in the last two laps of the classic technique race but ran out of time.
“I knew I was hovering around third or fourth place for the first two laps and I was sort of holding back because I wasn’t sure what to expect because I haven’t done that many 15-kilometre races,” said Wilkie. “The third lap I knew I was a long way off Vilde and then every lap after that I went a bit harder, making up more time and I’m really happy with my race.
“The conditions were great, we had awesome wax out there, the wax techs are amazing.”
In the women’s sit-ski race, a 12km event, Oksana Masters won her fifth gold medal of the championships and her American teammate Kendall Gretsch claimed her fourth silver medal. Masters (41:17.7) was the early race leader and held her position throughout the race. Gretsch (42:32.1) overtook bronze medalist Birgit Skarstein of Norway (43:21.7) on the third of four laps.
For Skarstein, the cross-country World Cup points leader and defending Crystal Globe season champion, it was her second bronze of the championships.
“It didn’t know if I was going to start this race because it’s been really cold this week and my lungs haven’t been handling it very well,” Skarstein said. “The plan was to just see if I could actually finish or not, and ending up with a bronze is amazing.”
Despite the cold that never seemed to leave all week Skarstein loved the surroundings of the Otway course and raved about the reception the athletes received in their time in Prince George.
“I’m really impressed with the nature here and really impressed with the volunteers,” she said. “It’s been an amazing experience here and everyone’s working so hard, always smiling even at 6:30 in the morning and it’s minus 25 degrees freezing.”
The start of the first race of the day, the men’s sit-ski 15km event, was delayed an hour to allow the sun to pull the mercury out of a -29 C overnight plunge. It was
-15 C when they left the gate. Martin Fleig of Germany won gold (47:53.8), Taras Rad of Ukraine took silver (49:06.1) and bronze went to Dzmitry Loban of Belarus (49:42.6). Derek Zapotlinsky of Smoky Lake, Alta., finished fifth (50:21.2).
“I had a decent game-plan, I just tried to stick with people as they came by me and it seemed to work,” he said.
“I got a little tired on the fourth lap but I was able to dig in on the fifth lap and made some time up. My arms are pretty dead right now, I gave it all I had on that one because it was the last race of the competition.”
Ethan Hess of Pemberton was 15th.
“It was super-hard, it’s a difficult race because you’re pulling the whole way but I love the longer distance and the mental toughness side,” said Hess, who won bronze for B.C. in the 2015 Canada Winter Games at Otway and is representing his province again this week at the Canada Games in Red Deer.
