Dan Cnossen’s Journey To The Edge Of The World In Preparation For Another Paralympics

Dan Cnossen, a seven-time Paralympic medalist in Nordic Skiing, recently returned home after spending three weeks at the edge of the earth — or as close to it as the seven-time Paralympic medalist can get. 

In August, Cnossen traveled to Ushuaia, Argentina, which is considered the southernmost city in the world, to train on snow and prepare for his fourth, and possibly final, Paralympic Winter Games in March. 

A big reason that he continues to compete in Para Nordic skiing, Cnossen said, is so he can enjoy new adventures and see more of the world. Since it’s currently wintertime in the Southern Hemisphere, the trip to Ushuaia gave him an opportunity to get in some much-needed time on his sit ski while taking in the stunning mountain scenery there. 

It also allowed Cnossen, 45, to use his “rusty” Spanish and do some reflecting. In 2013, four years after the former Navy SEAL lost both of his legs during an explosion in Afghanistan, he trained in Ushuaia to get ready for his Paralympic debut at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. 

“For me, it just was kind of coming full circle to revisit this area where I had been,” said Cnossen, a native of Topeka, Kansas. “I reflected upon the many years that I’ve been in the sport, the progress I’ve made, the places I’ve seen, the people I’ve met, and the most amazing thing, though, in addition to that, was that none of this was there 12 years ago.” 

Cnossen, who’s a member of the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing national team, has earned two Paralympic gold medals, four silver medals and a bronze in addition to a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with Valor for his military service. He’s at a stage in his racing career where he’s looking to simply appreciate every moment on snow and continue training hard regardless of if he wins another medal. 

Cnossen said he had a fun time in Argentina despite sustaining a hand injury while there that has continued to bother him and limit the amount of work he can do in the gym. 

“Most importantly is enjoy, and I enjoy training hard,” Cnossen said. “If I ever got to the place where I wasn’t enjoying, it’s time to be done. But I still love the sport. I love doing intervals. I love racing. I love the 2-3 hours over distance skis. I love going to new places, so I’m still very motivated.” 

Cnossen trained in Ushuaia from Aug. 6-23. His workouts were scheduled around a series of FIS Continental Cup races that were held during his second week in the country. He competed against a strong field of sit skiers from Canada, Brazil and Argentina in a sprint, a 5-kilometer race, a 10K and a 20K. 

While he was there, the U.S. ski and Para snowboard teams were training at a nearby mountain. 

Cnossen’s desire to explore the world led to his decision to stop competing in the biathlon — in which he’s won four Paralympic medals, including both of his golds — and focus solely on cross-country skiing. He said he wanted to ski new, exciting places instead of being forced to spend much of his time practicing at the shooting range. 

Looking ahead to the cross-country skiing races at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games, Cnossen admitted he might not be the fastest sprinter at age 45, but he believes the event could be a nice tune-up before he competes in the 10K and 20K races. 

Cnossen said his goal is to be skiing as fast as possible by March. To do so, he plans to travel again in a few weeks — this time to Germany to take part in a training camp that U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing will hold inside an underground ski tunnel. 

Being the oldest member of the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing national team isn’t an issue for him. 

“I can do everything that the younger athletes are doing, and frankly I have so much volume under my belt,” Cnossen said. “For me, the biggest thing is when the workouts are meant to be easy, I just go so easy, just very easy when I’m supposed to go easy. I look back in the past, I probably was going a little too hard when I was supposed to be going easy.” 

Cnossen said he didn’t give much thought about returning to Ushuaia after he was done training there in 2013. More than a decade later, he admitted he had a much different perspective in August. 

“Now my mentality was I might not ever come back here again, so I need to really appreciate the views of the mountains, which are stunning,” Cnossen said. “And I’m not at all ready to be done skiing, but I do realize that my ability to have the travel for skiing covered, that isn’t going to last forever. I don’t plan on stopping skiing anytime soon, and I’m hoping that I do go back to Ushuaia, even if it’s just on my own. But the reality is you’re not going to be on a national team forever, and so therefore some of the funding opportunities may go away. 

“But for me, skiing has been a really positive thing in my life. When I think about the experiences and the travel, that is so much more than the race results. I’m at that point in my career, so I think it’s a very healthy place to be where it’s like this whole journey and this adventure was amazing, and what made it amazing was not race results.” 

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordic.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.