Lake Wanaka, New Zealand – A strong field is shaping up for the cross country skiing competition at 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games with the confirmation of Olympic gold, silver and bronze medalist, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, in the women’s event and a world class Canadian men’s team.

Kowalczyk earned three of her medals in last year’s Winter Olympics at Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, together with a bronze at the 2006 Olympics in Italy. She also has 15 World Cup victories to her name, along with 38 World Cup podiums and is currently ranked number one in the world.

Among her rivals will be New Zealand’s Sarah Murphy who trains at Snow Farm near Wanaka where the Winter Games NZ cross country competition is held. Murphy made history in 2010 when she became New Zealand’s first biathlete to compete at the Winter OIympics. With her goal of placing top 10 at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the high level of competition on her home ground will provide Murphy with valuable competition experience during Winter Games NZ.

The four-strong Canadian men’s team is made up three Olympians, including national number one, Devon Kershaw, together with national sprint champion, Lenny Valjas. The Canadians dominated the 2009 Winter Games NZ, taking home 14 of the available 16 cross country medals, including a gold and silver for Kershaw.

Adaptive and able-bodied athletes will race together in a series of multi-discipline races at Snow Farm near Lake Wanaka from August 13-16.

Athletes competing in the adaptive category include Japan’s Yoshihiro Nitta who took out two gold medals for cross-country sprint and classic in the 2010 Winter Paralympics. He is joined by teammate Shoko Ota who won silver at the Paralympics in the sprint discipline.

Other competing nations include Australia, Brazil, Korea, Peru, Switzerland and the USA. Race disciplines are 10km/15km classic interval start, sprint and 5km/10km freestyle interval start.