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≡ GAMES UPDATE ≡
There were only three finals in the entire Winter Paralympic Games on Thursday, but 13 on Friday and Team USA got back to the business of winning more medals: five in all.
Para Biathlon:
● Women/Sprint sitting ~ Gold: Kendall Gretsch
This was the first-ever Sprint Pursuit and Gretsch was a dominant winner at 11:33.1 (0 penalties), ahead of Korea’s Yun-ji Kim (11:41.6/2) and German Anja Wicker (12:39.1/0). Fellow Americans Oksana Masters (13:51.1/3) and Erin Martin (17:37.5/2) finished sixth and 11th.
It’s Gretsch’s fourth medal of this Games and first gold and she was surprised:
“It’s just so exciting. I was a little bit shocked. I didn’t really know until I saw the finish line, and saw that I was ahead that I had actually won the race. I thought that I was still in second. Definitely shock and I’m just really excited and proud of this result.
“Going into the second shooting I was still behind. I saw her [Kim] leaving the shooting, and so if she had been clean I was like, ‘Oh, she’s way far ahead of me’. But I think that’s when she had missed, on the second shooting, and that’s where I passed her.”
Para Snowboard:
● Men/Banked Slalom (SBLL1) ~ Gold: Noah Elliott
● Men/Banked Slalom (SBLL1) ~ Bronze: Mike Schultz
Elliott – with possibly the best moustache in the Games – won this race at the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympics and was the leader after the first run in 58.96, and that held up throughout the rest of the competition! Elliott celebrated by getting a better time of 58.94 on the second run for his second gold in the event.
Japan’s Daichi Oguri stood second after the first round at 1:00.09 and Schultz was third at 1:00.59. Oguri improved to 59.02 to secure silver and Schultz had to improve, to 1:00.05 to get the bronze over China’s Zhongwei Wu (1:00.35).
Elliott was emotional afterwards:
“I’m so, so proud. Oh, my god, my emotions. It was so hard for me not to cry coming across that finish line. And I’m sure it’s going to happen during the medal ceremony.
“I’ve worked so hard, and this is my ‘Redemption Games’. And to be able to stand atop the podium today, hear our national anthem, I couldn’t be more proud. This is what it’s all about. This is why we do what we do to try to get that top position. It just all hit me.
“I had such a bad injury in 2022. I had my femur bone come through my amputated leg, and so I actually competed like that [at Beijing 2022].
“I didn’t think I was going to even be able to go and do it, but it was just a great Games for me, and I couldn’t be more proud to come back after a surgery, get back on the grind, work hard, set those goals in the gym, work out, and just get better at snowboarding and show up here.”
Said Schultz, now 44, in his final Paralympics:
“Oh man, these boys are fast. You know, over the last couple of seasons, they’ve been pushing me beyond my comfort zone and that’s one of the reasons why I’m like, you know what, it’s time.
“There’s lots of reasons, but my goal this year was to be at my best during these Games. And I believe I achieved that. You know, I came up a little short in border cross, not making it to the big final. But I was in the fight and I’m like, ‘Here we go – last shot, two runs in banked slalom.’
“Let’s just lay everything out on the table and that’s what I did. And man, to come after my first run I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m feeling it. I’m feeling it today.’
“And then the second run, I’m like, ‘I got to pick up the pace. You know, I want to bump up into that silver spot.’ I don’t know if I could have caught Noah. But to be on the podium and bring home a medal in my last Paralympic Games is, man, that feels good. That feels good.”
Schultz won his fourth career Paralympic medal (1-2-1); Elliott also has four (2-1-1).
● Women/Banked Slalom (SB-LL2) ~ Gold: Kate Delson
● Women/Banked Slalom (SB-LL2) ~ Bronze: Brenna Huckaby
Two-time defending champion Huckaby (1:04:02) and fellow American Delson (1:03.75) were second and first after the first run, then Lisa Bunschoten-Vos (NED) moved into the lead on her final run at 1:03.53. Huckaby improved to 1:03.98 but was second, with Delson up. And she ripped off a winning time of 1:02.99 to take the gold.
Delson, 20, won her first Paralympic gold after a silver in the SnowCross final:
“It feels unreal to have a gold medal. I didn’t know if gold is my color, I like silver [laughing].
“It feels great and to have my family and friends here, as well as a really, really good friends who came out to watch today, means everything. I was just stoked to be here, I think it’s such a fun course. I got to get a medal with my teammate, one of my best friends in the world, that’s unreal.”
Huckaby, 30, won her fifth career Paralympic medal (3-0-2) and added:
“It was really hard for me today, and these girls are really good. I didn’t know I had it. It’s just really hard. And so whenever I finished on the podium, I was just shocked.
“I knew I wanted to try and beat my first time. I wanted to try and get on the top spot. I heard that Lisa had beaten my time, so I knew at that time I was in third.
“And I was like, ‘Don’t tell me anything else. I’m just going to go out there and leave it out, everything on the line’. And that’s what I did. I did the best that I could, and I’m really, really happy with it.”
Team USA has 19 medals so far (9-5-5), second overall behind China, which leads with 33 total medals (12-9-12).
The four-time defending champion U.S. sled hockey team qualified for the gold-medal final with a 6-1 win over the Czech Republic. They will play the winner of Canada vs. China on Sunday.
There are still 16 finals remaining in the Games, which close on Sunday. With 19 total medals so far, the U.S. looks to surpass its total of 20 from the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing (CHN), although the 36 from PyeongChang 2018 appears out of reach.
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