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≡ GAMES UPDATE ≡
Just six finals on Saturday on the penultimate day of the Winter Paralympic Games, but a 20th medal and a 10th gold for the U.S., once again at the Tesoro Cross-Country Skiing Stadium:
Para Cross Country Skiing:
● Mixed 4×2.5 km relay ~ Gold: United States (Josh Sweeney, Oksana Masters, Sydney Peterson, Jake Adicoff)
Sweeney started and handed off in second place to Masters, who was in third at her hand-off to Peterson, who then fell back to fourth place at the end of her leg. Adicoff – with guide Reid Coble – already the winner of the visually-impaired Sprint and 10 km, was 48.4 seconds down – as expected – but took off and was in second place by the 8.7 km mark and roared to the lead with the fastest anchor in the field and crossed in 23:24.2 with his third gold of the Games!
Adicoff overtook Ukraine’s Liudmyla Liashenko, who won silver at 23:36.7, with China third in 23:56.5, and the American star was immediately tackled by Masters at the finish! Said Adicoff afterwards:
“You can’t talk about the last leg without talking about the first three. Those were some crazy performances from our team. It made skiing our part of the race a lot easier. It was hard, but it was fun.
“We knew that we were going to be in a bit of a time deficit, but that’s how this relay is set up. That’s how our team is set up. So it was part of the plan. It’s still incredibly stressful but stress is reduced by watching some teammates really rip it out there.”
Asked about wrapping up Adicoff at the finish, Masters explained:
“I’m a very passionate, aggressive person, and I was just so excited. I was so happy for Jake, because I know he’s chasing that clean sweep in cross-country skiing. To be able to do my part for him, it just felt so good that he is on his way to achieving his dreams.”
As for being on the receiving end, Adicoff said:
“It was initially a hug, and then she kind of put all her weight into it, and then all of a sudden I was on the ground. She goes crazy, she’s got a lot of passion. She takes that to the racecourse and to the celebrations afterwards.”
There are 10 events on Sunday, plus the closing ceremony in Cortina d’Ampezzo. China leads the medal table with 38 total (14-11-13) and the U.S. is second with 20 (10-5-5), equaling its total from the Beijing 2022 Games, with a day to go.
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The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced that biathlete and cross-country skier Kendall Gretsch and alpine skier Andrew Kurka were selected as flagbearers for the closing ceremony on Sunday. Per the USOPC:
“Gretsch and Kurka were chosen by a vote of fellow Team USA athletes led by the Team USA Athletes’ Commission, which serves as the representative group and voice of Team USA athletes.”
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