Para Nordic – FasterSkier.com

A Skier’s Dream: Adaptive Athlete Otis Loga Finds It All at Snow Mountain Ranch

Alex KochonApril 18, 2024

What a gap year it’s been so far for 19-year-old Otis Loga. After graduating high school in Montpelier, Vt., in September, the aspiring Paralympian decided to spend a winter skiing and training out West before starting college. He landed at Snow Mountain Ranch, the YMCA of the Rockies, in Granby, Colo. It was a dream for the relatively new sit skier, who was first invited to a US Paralympic camp in Canmore, Alberta, a year...

News Para Nordic

Russia and Belarus suspended at IPC Extraordinary General Assembly

FasterSkierNovember 17, 2022

At an Extraordinary General Assembly in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday (16 November 2022), International Paralympic Committee (IPC) member organisations voted to suspend the National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) of Russia and Belarus. The decision by IPC members to suspend NPC Russia and NPC Belarus stems from their inability to comply with their membership obligations under the IPC Constitution. This includes the obligations to ‘ensure that, in Para sport within the Paralympic Movement, the spirit of fair...

News Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Team USA Wins Mixed Relay Gold to Close Out Nordic Skiing at 2022 Paralympic Winter Games

FasterSkierMarch 13, 2022

By Katie Grunik | TeamUSA.org ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Team USA won its first-ever mixed relay gold to close out the cross-country competition at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Sunday at Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou, China. Team USA’s 4 x 2.5-kilometer mixed relay featured Oksana Masters, Sydney Peterson, Dan Cnossen and Jake Adicoff guided by Sam Wood. They stormed to a 25:59.3 gold-medal finish. China took silver in 26:25.3, and Team Canada...

Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Oksana Masters adds another silver, goes six-for-six in individual events at Beijing 2022

FasterSkierMarch 12, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Team USA Nordic skier Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) skied her way into the record books on Saturday at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Masters won the silver medal in the women’s sitting cross-country middle-distance at the Zhangjiakou Biathlon Center, her sixth medal of Beijing 2022 and 16th overall medal in her Paralympic career, which is the fourth-most Paralympic medals by a U.S. athlete. A star in both the winter and summer Paralympic Games, Masters...

Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Oksana Masters and Kendall Gretsch Go 1-2 in Women’s Individual Sitting Biathlon

FasterSkierMarch 11, 2022

By Stuart Lieberman | TeamUSA.org ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Considering that March is Women’s History Month, U.S. Paralympic Nordic skiers Oksana Masters and Kendall Gretsch are certainly making their fair share of contributions to the history books. Masters and Gretsch picked up gold and silver medals, respectively, on Friday at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, with Masters winning the women’s individual sitting biathlon in 42:17.9 and Gretsch finishing second in 42:23.7. It was the third time...

Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Super Sprint Day for Team USA as Three More Medals Collected in Beijing

FasterSkierMarch 9, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Team USA Para Nordic skiers Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) and Jake Adicoff (Sun Valley, Idaho), alongside guide Sam Wood (Harpswell, Maine) each won silver medals, and Sydney Peterson (Lake Elmo, Minnesota) took bronze in an exciting, fast-paced day of cross-country sprint racing at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Through five days of competition, the U.S. Para Nordic team has collected 10 medals in cross-country and biathlon at Beijing 2022, with three more days of racing to go at the...

Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Team USA Goes 1-2 in Middle-Distance Biathlon as Gretsch Wins Gold and Masters Earns Silver

FasterSkierMarch 8, 2022

By Stephen Meyers ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Team USA’s dynamic duo of Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Ill.) and Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) won gold and silver in the women’s sitting biathlon middle-distance on the fourth day of competition at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. The U.S. Para Nordic team has now collected seven medals across biathlon and cross-country skiing at Beijing 2022, with four more days of racing to go at the Zhangjiakou Biathlon Center. For Gretsch,...

News Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Jake Adicoff Wins Second Paralympic Medal and Sydney Peterson Wins First in Paralympic Debut

FasterSkierMarch 7, 2022

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Three-time Paralympian Jake Adicoff (Sun Valley, Idaho), alongside guide Sam Wood (Harpswell, Maine), won the silver medal in the men’s visually impaired long-distance cross-country race on Monday, while Paralympic newcomer Sydney Peterson (Lake Elmo, Minnesota) won the silver in the women’s long-distance cross-country race in another banner day for the U.S. Para Nordic team at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. The U.S. Para Nordic team has now collected five medals through three days of cross-country skiing and...

News Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Oksana Masters Adds to Medal Collection with Silver in Long-Distance Cross-Country

FasterSkierMarch 6, 2022

U.S. Para Nordic star Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) won silver in the women’s sitting long-distance cross-country race on Sunday, her second medal of the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Masters, a cross-country skier and biathlete, also won gold in the women’s sitting biathlon sprint on Saturday and now has 12 career Paralympic medals between the winter and summer Paralympic Games. Sunday’s silver medal comes six months after winning double gold in Para-cycling at the Paralympic Games Tokyo...

News Para Nordic Racing

(Press Release) Masters wins fifth gold, Gretsch takes bronze in biathlon sprint to begin 2022 Para Games

FasterSkierMarch 5, 2022

By Stephen Meyers | March 05, 2022, 7:27 a.m. (ET) Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) won the first gold medal for the U.S. at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Saturday in the women’s sitting biathlon sprint while teammate Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Illinois) earned bronze on a cold, breezy day that included racing in the men’s and women’s biathlon sprint in the sitting, standing and vision impaired categories. Masters, a biathlete and cross-country skier, won...

Community News Para Nordic

Kendall Gretsch Prepares for Second Games of the Year

Ella HallFebruary 2, 2022

There are a select few athletes who compete in both the summer and winter Olympics, and fewer still is the number of athletes who have won gold medals at the two. Para-athlete, Kendall Gretsch, holds this distinction having won two gold medals at Pyeongchang in 2018 and gold in the para-triathlon at Tokyo in 2021. With two Olympics in the span of six months, Gretsch was set for a big year. In a TeamUSA interview...

General News Other News Para Nordic Team nominations

(Press Release) FOURTEEN PARA NORDIC ATHLETES NOMINATED TO 2022 PARALYMPIC TEAM

FasterSkierJanuary 31, 2022

By Kristen Gowdy | Jan. 31, 2022, 6:02 p.m. (ET) COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – Following a stellar world championships performance that saw Team USA earn 13 medals in Para Nordic disciplines, U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing today announced the six women, seven men and one guide who have been nominated to compete at the Paralympic Games Beijing 2022 in March. Veteran athletes will lead the way in Beijing as Team USA looks to build on the 16...

Para Nordic Racing

Vilde Nilsen Makes History at the Para World Championships

MadshusJanuary 24, 2022

The 21-year-old Norwegian crushed her competitors by nearly 1.5 minutes in the 10-kilometer classic race at the World Para Snow Sports Championships in Lillehammer on Thursday, January 13. Vilde Nilsen is back on the course on Tuesday, January 18, for the 15-kilometer skate event, and again in the sprint race on Saturday, January 22. The World Para Snow Sports Championships conclude with cross-country relays on Sunday, January 23. At the IBU Biathlon World Cup in Rupholding, Germany,...

Para Nordic Racing

Americans Bring Home More Medals as Para World Championships Wrap Up in Lillehammer

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 24, 2022

The Para World Championships wrapped up in Lillehammer, Norway on Sunday January 23rd, with a mixed open relay event bringing athletes from across genders and race categories together into one thrilling capstone event. Rewinding to where our previous coverage left off, Saturday’s schedule featured the final individual races of the Championships, a classic spring for standing athletes, and a cross country sprint for sprint skiers. As in able-bodied fields, a sprint involves a qualification round,...

Para Nordic Racing

U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing On a Roll at Para Worlds in Lillehammer

Rachel PerkinsJanuary 21, 2022

It’s late January and we’re deep into the race season. As the Olympics and Paralympics draw nearer, we’ve simultaneously just wrapped up the Tour de Ski, the U.S. Cross Country Championships, and another wave of SuperTour races. Never a dull moment in the racing world, the Para World Championships are currently well underway, running January 13-23rd in Lillehammer, Norway. Normally occurring on odd years, the World Championships were postponed from last February due to the...

Feature Para Nordic Racing

After a Series of World Major Marathons, Aaron Pike Transitions to Winter

Rachel PerkinsNovember 23, 2021

While no one would choose the circumstances, pandemic induced cancellations presented marathoners with a unique calendar of events this fall. All six of the iconic World Marathon Majors — Berlin, London, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo (held virtually, in-person event postponed to 2022), and New York — took place within a span of 42 days. (In a typical season, Tokyo, Boston, and London are run in the spring.) While Shalane Flanagan has been in the limelight for...

Feature Olympics Para Nordic Racing

Kendall Gretsch Makes History With Gold Medal in Paratriathlon

Rachel PerkinsOctober 7, 2021

If you didn’t catch the ending of the triathlon during the Tokyo Paralympics, prepare for the chills. Spoiler alert: in an all out, last gas effort in the final meters, dual-season athlete Kendall Gretsch edged out Australia’s Lauren Parker by one second for a Gold Medal victory. This is Gretsch’s third Olympic gold, alongside the two she earned during the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Games, first in the 6-kilometer biathlon sitting sprint and again in the...

Feature Para Nordic Racing

Finding Assurance with Michael Stone

Jason AlbertJuly 15, 2021

We often hear of the pipeline in Olympic sport. The path to the highest level of elite competition. The pipeline is not consistent in diameter: Wide-mouthed at its start, tapered to needle-wide at its terminus. There are many ways to identify talent within a pipeline. In the cross-country ski world, there are incremental benchmarks to progress to the next tier. Within U.S. Ski & Snowboard, for example, skiers in the pipeline begin in the club...

Biathlon Community Interviews Para Nordic

Rising Together: The Crosscut Elite Team Fosters the Success of US Para Nordic

Rachel PerkinsJune 2, 2020

On April 9th, the Crosscut Mountain Sports Center in Bozeman, MT released information and qualification criteria for their newly founded elite team. As you skim what it takes to earn a spot at each tier of the program, it may catch your attention that the cross country, biathlon, and para nordic are housed within the same program. This single team approach reflects the growth and development at Crosscut in connection with its partnership with the...

Interviews Para Nordic

Masters and Gretsch Prepare for Two Paralympic Cycles After Postponement of Tokyo Games

Rachel PerkinsMay 5, 2020

Of the members of the U.S. Para Nordic team, more than half compete at the highest level in both summer and winter sports. Instead of quadrennial, their training is designed for biennial Paralympic cycles, oscillating between sports each year with an overall focus shift toward whichever Games is approaching fastest. And the goal is not simply to compete in both rounds of the Games, it is to bring home medals. Illinois based Oksana Masters is...

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