Japan's Taiki Kawayoke got his first World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup victory in the men's standing middle-distance cross-country event ©World Para Nordic Skiing

Japan's Taiki Kawayoke delighted the home crowd in Sapporo after securing his first World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup victory in the men's standing middle-distance cross-country event.

Kawayoke became world champion in the long distance discipline in Prince George last month but had yet to secure a World Cup victory.

He did so today in front of home support, recording a winning time of 24min 39.1sec.

In second was Poland's Witold Skupien in 24:50.9, while three-time Paralympic champion of France Benjamin Daviet had to make do with third place in 25:29.7.

The result left the race for the standing cross-country World Cup title open, with Ukrainian Grygorii Vovchynskyi finishing fourth but still leading the overall rankings with 680 points.

Skupien is second with 653 points and Daviet third on 505.

The winner is set to be decided following the short distance event tomorrow. 

Norway's Vilde Nilsen took the women's standing cross-country title after triumphing in today's middle-distance race. 

She finished in 20:41.5, ahead of Canada's Natalie Wilkie and Ukraine’s Yuliia Batenkova-Bauman in times of 21:24.3 and 21:45.7 respectively.

This gave Nilsen the dominating score of 980 points in the standings, her nearest opponents Ukraine's Liudmyla Liashenko on 635 points and Oleksandra Kononova on 576.

Norway's Vilde Nilsen took the women's standing cross-country title after triumphing in today's middle-distance race at the World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup in Sapporo ©Getty Images
Norway's Vilde Nilsen took the women's standing cross-country title after triumphing in today's middle-distance race at the World Para Nordic Skiing World Cup in Sapporo ©Getty Images

Austria's Carina Edlinger claimed her third consecutive vision impaired cross-country title after winning the middle distance in 21:29.7.

Germany's Clara Klug and Ukraine’s two-time Paralympic gold medallist Oksana Shyshkova finished second and third in 21:53.6 and 22:05.3 respectively.

The women's sitting cross-country World Cup title is still undecided, despite five-time world champion Oksana Masters of the United States easily winning today's race in 17:09.8.

Standings leader Birgit Skarstein of Norway finished third in 18:00.9, while fellow American Kendall Gretsch was second in 17:42.3.

Skarstein has 710 points, Masters has 700 and Gretsch 660, giving extra significance to tomorrow's final race. 

Ukraine's Taras Rad triumphed in the men's sitting cross-country middle distance with a time of 24:00.3, but the overall title is likely to go to America's Daniel Cnossen, who finished second in 24:07.3.

Rad’s compatriot Vasyl Kravchuk took third place in 24:37.5.