The pair took on the course in windy and cold conditions, finishing two five kilometre laps with staggered starts in the classical or forward and backwards skiing style - rather than the freestyle or ‘skating’ style.

While the temperature was a touch warmer than earlier events, a biting wind affected both the athletes’ temperature and the course, blowing snow into the classical tracks that affected sections of the course.

The podium was dominated by Scandinavian cross-country skiing powerhouses, with Norway’s Therese Johaug winning ahead of silver and bronze for Finland to Kerttu Niskanen and Krista Parmakoski.

Casey was thrilled at her result, leaving everything on the course, and improving on her 81st from PyeongChang 2018 in the 10km freestyle event.

“It was a really solid race, a massive effort and I’m really happy with the race I was able to put together,” she said.

“I couldn't have given any more. At the top of that last climb I was so deep in the box I was seeing stars.

“In those moments I almost see it as a life or death situation. I can either curl up on this bit of the track and give up or embrace the pain, keep pushing and make it to the finish.

“The wind definitely picked up which blew a lot more snow into the track, so we weren't able to stay in the classic tracks, which we would have preferred to – we had to jump out and find some quicker snow outside, which just makes a bit harder to maintain your stability and balance.

“The staggered starts mean there’s always someone out in front of your sights to chase down as motivation.”

Jess finished 51st out of the field of 98, even though she says she performs better in freestyle events.

“I felt pretty good. I think I got better on the second lap,” Jess said.

“The wind really picked up just as we got on course, which made for some tricky conditions and I felt really cold out there, but happy with how I did out there.

“I prefer skate racing rather than classical. I would be hoping for a better race if it was freestyle, but I'm happy with how I skied overall. I had really good skis, my wax techs did a great job. So all the climbs went well.”

The duo will have a few days off competition before attacking the women’s team sprint classic and the women’s mass start freestyle 30km.

“We’ve had a big program, we’ll have one or two days off snow, then a couple easy skis and then ramp it back up,” Jess said.

“It actually works out well so we’ll be rested for the 30km, with a big hard effort in the team sprint a few days before.”

Casey was looking forward to resting the legs to be in peak condition for their final two events.

“I'm really looking forward to the team sprint with Jess. We’ll take a couple of easy days and then we'll continue to keep skiing, keep the body moving and the legs ticking over,” Casey said.

“Still lots of skiing to come, should be awesome.”

Jess and Casey will be in the women’s team sprint classic on Wednesday 16 February, before finishing their campaign with the women’s mass start freestyle 30km on Sunday 20 February.

Dominic Sullivan

#HaveAGo