Good morning and welcome to the (almost) midway point of the Paralympics! Here are the coolest storylines to come out of Beijing so far.
First up, Kendall Gretsch and Oksana Masters have been absolutely dominant in Biathlon (sitting). In the sprint, Oksana won gold and Kendall got bronze. They swapped podium places in the middle distances last night, with Kendall winning gold and Oskana just behind her. Oksana now has three medals with another silver in Cross-Country Skiing.
Over in Para Skiing, New Zealand shocked the Europeans with a gold medal in the Downhill event, following it up with a silver in the Super-G. Fellow kiwi Adam Hall took bronze behind France and Finland in the Super Combined, with Thomas C. Walsh coming in 4th—or “the wooden spoon,” as Walsh called it. Love that phrase!
The most exciting competition so far (for me, at least) has been the Snowboard Cross. Team USA had a lot of people in this event, with lots of maneuvering. Mike Shultz, who made prosthetics for 26 other athletes in Beijing, got silver in the Men’s Standing LL1. Garrett Geros, a dark horse favorite, also scored silver in the LL2 classification (meaning slightly less impairment in limbs).
Breanna Huckaby won the bronze in Women’s Standing LL2, completing a journey that often left her questioning whether she’d compete at all. The Paralympics had originally banned her from the Games because she classifies as LL1 (more impaired than LL2). Huckaby and gold medalist Cécile Hernandez fought to participate in the more difficult class—and it paid off. Read their full story here.
Team USA currently sits in 8th on the medal table with 10. We’ve got 2 golds, 6 silvers, and 2 bronzes. Canada is in third with 13 while Ukraine is in 2nd place with 17 medals—a bright spot in a very dark time for the country. At the top is China, absolutely dominating the competition with 27 medals.
What’s interesting here is that the host nation didn’t compete in a lot of international events, so they were a big question mark coming into the Games. I guess staying home and training on the course is paying off!
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