Paralympics Day 1 Quick Hits: Gold Rush in the Alps
Written by Lesley Ryder
Oksana Masters didn’t have to wait long to win her 20th medal.
Masters went 10-for-10 on the shooting range to claim the first gold medal for the United States at the 2026 Paralympics in the sitting Para Biathlon sprint. Her teammate, Kendall Gretsch took silver to complete the 1-2 punch on the podium.
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The road to the Paralympics was rocky for Masters. She battled an infection that kept her out of competition for the entire 2024-25 season, a concussion that limited her training, and a summer surgery on her trigger finger that threatened her return to the Paralympics.
“My emotions are just pure shock. I did not expect this.” Masters told paralympic.org after the race. “All I was hoping was just to have a good time in the shooting range. I did not expect a podium finish to be honest, let alone a gold.”
Germany’s Anja Wicker joined the Americans on the podium with the bronze medal for her best-ever finish in the sprint event.
Both Masters and Gretsch will return today for the individual biathlon.
Full results
Standing Biathlon Sprint
🥇Oleksandra Kononova - Ukraine
🥈Natalie Wilkie - Canada
🥉Liudmyla Liashenko - Ukraine
Visual Impaired Biathlon Sprint
🥇Yue Wang - China
🥈Carina Edlingerova - Czechia
🥉Leonie Maria Walter - Germany
Messy mountain conditions
Spring-like weather in Cortina d’Ampezzo wreaked havoc on the Para alpine ski courses. On Friday, the competition jury cancelled the final downhill training in order to preserve the course for Saturday’s final.
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Despite the break in the action, and many hours of maintenance, the downhill course seemed a bit sloppy. Multiple skiers crashed off the course and could not finish.
The conditions could not stop Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster from winning her fifth gold medal of her Paralympic career, and her first in the downhill sitting competition. She was joined on the podium by Audrey Seco Pascual of Spain, and Sitong Liu of China.
In the standing category, Sweden’s Ebba Aarsjoe won her first downhill gold, improving on her 3rd-place finish in 2022. Aurelie Richard of France took silver for her first Paralympic medal, and Russia’s Varvara Voronchikhina earned bronze.
Slalom specialist Veronika Aigner added another gold medal to her cabinet with her first downhill Paralympic win. Chiarra Mazel won silver for the host nation’s first medal of the games, and Slovakia’s Alexandra Rexova took bronze, her first medal in the downhill event. .
Downhill results
Sitting
🥇Anna-Lena Forster - Germany
🥈Audrey Seco Pascual - Spain
🥉Sitong Liu - China
Standing
🥇Ebba Aarsjoe - Sweden
🥈Aurelie Richard - France
🥉Varvara Voronchikhina - Russia
Vision Impaired
🥇Veronikaa Aigner - Austria
🥈Chiarra Mazel - Italy
🥉Alexandra Rexova - Slovakia
Para Snowboard cross qualifiers
1. Brenna Huckaby - USA
2. Cecile Hernandez - France
3. Kate Delson - USA
