Paralympics Quick Hits Day 4: Enter Sprint Master(s)
Written by Lesley Ryder
Tuesday marked the first day of para cross country skiing with a sprint to the finish. The Para Cross Country Sprint course is a short 1.1 kilometers, but athletes must pace themselves through a qualifier and a semifinal to even get a shot at the medal round.
Oksana Masters returned to the top of the podium with gold in the sitting division, adding to her CVS receipt-length list of accolades. Kim Yunji, the 19 year old from the Republic of Korea won silver for her second medal of the games, and China’s Wang Shiyu made her podium debut, finishing third.
In the standing division, Norway’s Vilde Nilsen won gold, improving on her silver medal finish at the Beijing Olympics. She finished three seconds ahead of U.S.’s Sydney Peterson, who also improved from her 2022 bronze. “I think sprinting is fun because there’s a lot of tactical elements to it,” Peterson told NBC Sports after the race. It’s a delicate balance between saving your energy, and doing whatever it takes to make the final. That round, she joked, “that’s just gonna hurt no matter what.”
Canada’s Natalie Wilkie added to her medal tally taking bronze, her third medal in as many events.
Russia’s Anastasia Bagiian won gold in the Visual Impaired category with her guide, Sergei Siniakin. Linn Kazmaier of Germany finished second for her 7th-career paralympic medal, while China’s Cong Jihong took third place for her first Paralympic medal in her debut games.
Para Cross Country - Sitting
🥇Oksana Masters - USA
🥈Kim Yunji - Republic of Korea
🥉Wang Shiyu - China
Para Cross Country - Standing
🥇Vilde Nilsen - Norway
🥈Sydney Peterson - USA
🥉Natalie Wilkie - Canada
Para Cross Country - Visual Impaired
🥇Anastasia Bagiian/Guide: Sergei Siniakin - Russia
🥈Linn Kazmaier/Guide: Floria Baumann - Germany
🥉Cong Jihong/Guide: Liu Jiaxuan - China
On the slopes, athletes competed in the Para Alpine Combined event. The morning started with another run down the Super-G course, followed by the Slalom.
Austrian Veronika Aigner and her guide, Lilly Sammer won gold in the Vision Impaired classification by three seconds. Aigner improved on her silver medal finish in yesterday’s Super-G race. It was the first time she stepped off a podium without a gold medal, but after today, a new win streak begins.
Italy’s Chiara Mazzel finished second for her third medal of these games, bolstering the medal count for her home nation. Elina Stary of Austria finished in third place to win her first Paralympic medal.
In the standing category, a familiar battle for gold resumed between Sweden’s Ebba Aarsjoe and France’s Aurelie Richard. While Richard had the edge in yesterday’s Super-G race, Aarsjoe won gold in today’s combined event, her second of the games as she continues to dominate the standing Para Alpine events. Richard’s silver medal is her third of the 2026 Paralympics. Zhu Wenjing of China landed in third place, winning her first Paralympic medal.
On the monoski, Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster avenged her DNF from yesterday’s Super-G run. She finished second in today’s Para Alpine Combined behind Audrey Pascual Seco by just .46 seconds. Pascual Seco now has two gold medals for Spain in her first Paralympic games. China’s Liu Sitong finished third for her third bronze medal of these games.
Para Alpine Combined - Visual Impaired
🥇Veronika Aigner/Guide: Lilly Sammer - Austria
🥈Chiarra Mazzel/Guide: Nicola Cotti Cottini - Italy
🥉Elina Stary/Guide: Stefan Winter - Austria
Para Alpine Combined - Standing
🥇Ebba Aarsjoe - Sweden
🥈Aurelie Richard - France
🥉Liu Sitong - China
Para Alpine Combined - Sitting
🥇Audrey Pascual Seco - Spain
🥈Anna-Lena Forster - Germany
🥉Liu Sitong - China
Keeping up with the Culxtured
Culxtured’s own Dani Aravich finished sixth in the Standing Para Cross Country Sprint, her best-ever finish in the Paralympic event. Aravich shared her thoughts on making the final after missing out last Paralympics on her Instagram page.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVtiWKUjpx0/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Classic has been my biggest project… and biggest frustration since I started skiing six years ago. I’ve spent a lot of time counting myself out when it comes to classic skiing. So one of my outcome goals for these Games was to make the classic sprint final. Today I did it.
Dani returns to action on Friday for the Para Biathlon Sprint Pursuit.
