Koons (23) is based in the US but was born and raised in New Zealand and attended Otago Boys High School before moving overseas with his family.
Canadian Devon Kershaw (26) won yesterday's race in 37min 51.82sec, from compatriots Ivan Babikov (29) and Alex Harvey (20).
The race was started in 30-second intervals, with the top seed starting last.
Just five seconds separated Kershaw and the top-seeded Babikov at the finish line.
Both are Olympic athletes and ranked in the world top 20.
They showed their superior strength by skiing through most of the field, with Babikov catching Kershaw during the last 5km lap and forcing a sprint finish.
Koons finished a creditable 18th yesterday in 41min 12.08sec.
The result follows two top-10 finishes in Continental Cup races in Australia last week, where he first met the FIS standard.
Dunedin junior skier Andy Pohl (20) was the second New Zealander home, in 26th place.
Christchurch's Nat Anglem (31st) was the third New Zealander.
Chief-of-course John Burridge said Koons needed to meet the FIS standard two more times to secure his nomination to join Katie Calder on the Olympic team.
Calder is the only New Zealand cross-country skier to have qualified for next year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Koons said his race felt good, his skis felt fast "although they did not have a lot of kick in the hills", and the course was "great".
"It was tough. I started at number 25 and passed a number of people but a number of the faster Canadians came through behind me. I am pretty tired but feel pretty good.
"Last weekend in Australia was the first race for a while so there's a bit of work to get into things," he said.
Koons narrowly missed qualifying for the 2006 Olympics, and Vancouver has been a long-held dream.
"In 2006, I was right on the bubble and just missed out. It was a great experience but I was young. I was 19. It was a big step up racing world cups and travelling on my own, but I learned a lot."
The former Snow Farm ski instructor is an environmental engineer and has worked on United Nations development projects in Rwanda, designing and implementing micro-hydro systems for rural villages.
Koons races again tomorrow in the men's 10km freestyle, with racing starting at 9am.
