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≡ GAMES UPDATE ≡
The U.S. team finished off the final day of the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games with a brilliant sled hockey win before a record crowd of 11,500 at the Milan Santaguilia Arena, giving the Americans a fifth straight gold in the event, and their third Paralympic victory of the day.
The hockey final had been much anticipated and the attendance set a new high for a Paralympic sled hockey match, improving on the 8,992 that saw the Italy-U.S. match on 7 March.
A tight game turned on a U.S. penalty in the third period. A Jake Wallace power-play goal was the only scoring in the first, but Canada tied the game on a power-play score by Liam Hickey at 1:45 of the second. The Americans went up 3-1 by the end of the period on goals by Kayden Beasley (6:29) and Wallace again (9:52).
Wallace got a hat trick with a third score at 1:42 of the third and at 4-1, it looked like a possible American runaway. But strong checking created chances for the Canadians and Hickey scored at 2:06 of the period to close to 4-2.
Then everything changed. With the Canadians applying more pressure, David Eustace was called for a delay-of-game penalty for a puck that popped into the stands. Now, Canada had a chance to close in, but instead, the U.S. was on offense and scoring ace Declan Farmer smashed the puck into the net at 11:20 – it took replay to give the goal to him instead of Wallace on a tip – and the short-handed score made it 5-2.
Canada pulled keeper Corbin Watson and Brody Roybal was almost instantly alone on a fast break and scored an empty-netter for the 6-2 final, while still short-handed. The U.S. finished with a 26:15 shots edge and a record fifth Paralympic title in a row. Defender Josh Pauls won his fifth Paralympic gold for the U.S.
It also made more history as the first “triple” ever with the Americans winning the men’s and women’s hockey golds and the Paralympic gold, all in the same year.
China won the bronze over the Czech Republic, 3-2.
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At the Tesoro Cross Country Stadium, the U.S. scored three more medals, including Sydney Peterson winning the women’s Standing 20 km Interval Start. She had the lead by the 2.6 km split and led the rest of the way, finishing in 47:25.8, with Norway’s Vilde Nilsen second in 50:41.4. Fellow American Danielle Aravich was 11th in 53:37.2.
It was Peterson’s third gold of the Games – also in the 10 km Standing and the 4×2.5 km relay – plus a silver in the standing Sprint.
U.S. star Jake Adicoff, already the Sprint, 10 km and relay gold medalist, won his fourth 2026 Paralympic gold in the men’s Visually-Impaired 20 km Interval Start. Working with guide Peter Wolter, Adicoff won in 42:17.4, far clear of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kazik (with Serhii Kucheriavyi: 48:11.6).
Adicoff, now 30, has a career total of eight Paralympic medal, five of which are gold.
In the women’s Sitting 20 km Interval Start, Korea’s Yun-ji Kim was a clear winner in 58:23.3, ahead of Anja Wicker (GER: 59:17.4), then Americans Oksana Masters (59:34.5) and Kendall Gretsch (1:01:24.9). For Masters, this is Winter Paralympic medal no. 19, the most ever by an American and her 24th Paralympic medal in total.
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Overall, the four medals on Sunday brought to the U.S. total to 24 total, including 13 golds, five silvers and six bronzes. This equals the American team high for Winter Paralympic golds going back to 1998; the last time the U.S. won more was at Lillehammer in 1994 with 24!
The 24 total medals was also the most in a European Winter Paralympics since Lillehammer; the U.S. had 12 medals in Turin (2006) and 18 in Sochi (2014). It was also the second-most medals since 2002 in Salt Lake City (43); the U.S. had 36 in PyeongChang in 2018, but that was down to 20 in Beijing in 2022.
As expected, China led the medal table with 44 total (15-13-16).
Six athletes won five medals at the same, including Masters (4-0-1); Austrian skier Veronika Aigner, who won the first gold of the Games, also ended with five (4-1-0). Aigner, Masters and Adicoff were the only four-time gold winners.
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