Kendall Gretsch – FasterSkier

(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) 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

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 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...

General News

U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Names 2020-21 National and Development Teams (Press Release)

FasterSkierJuly 9, 2020

Press Release COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing today announced the five Para Nordic skiers named to the national team and two skiers named to the development team for the 2020-21 season. All seven athletes represented Team USA at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. “Our program is committed to developing athletes from their first-time experience to the top levels of Nordic skiing and biathlon,” said Eileen Carey, Director of U.S. Paralympics Nordic...

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...

Community Interviews Para Nordic

Wednesday Workout: Structuring Training for Para Athletes Q&A with Martin Benes

Rachel PerkinsNovember 27, 2019

This insight into training para nordic athletes comes from Martin Benes, head coach of U.S. Para Nordic skiing. Benes joined U.S. Para Nordic in August 2018 after spending five years as the nordic ski director and head coach at Sugar Bowl Academy in Norden, CA. Benes responded via. email following a team training camp in Canmore, Alberta. FasterSkier: Before taking this job, did you have any background in or connections to para sports? What have...

Interviews Para Nordic

The Life of an Elite Multisport Para Athlete With Kendall Gretsch

Rachel PerkinsOctober 23, 2019

27-year-old Kendall Gretsch is a well-decorated athlete. A glance at the Illinois native’s bio shows three consecutive ITU Paratriathlon World Championship titles (2014 – 2016) plus a silver medal at this year’s event on September 1st in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is a five-time USA Paratriathlon national champion, four-time gold medalist at the PATCO/CAMTRI American Championships, and has four medals from ITU Paratriathlon World Cup events, two each of gold and silver. And that is just...

News Team nominations

U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Names 2019-2020 National and Development Teams (Press Release)

FasterSkierJune 18, 2019

Press Release

General Interviews Para Nordic Racing

Former Swimmer Kendall Gretsch on Unexpected Paralympic Golds, Hunger for More

Gabby NaranjaSeptember 11, 2018

As a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Kendall Gretsch stumbled across an article that would change her life. It was the spring of 2012, just a few months before the Summer Paralympics in London. Gretsch had been reading the local news when she came across a story about a St. Louis college student who hoped to attend the London Games as part of the U.S. Paralympics Swimming team. Born with spina...

General News Para Nordic

FasterSkier’s Para-Nordic Skiers of the Year: Oksana Masters and Brian McKeever

FasterSkierApril 12, 2018

With the 2017/2018 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review. This set of honors goes to outstanding Para-Nordic skiers on the international circuit. Previous categories: Collegiate Skiers of the Year | injured her elbow and...

General Interviews News Para Nordic Racing

From 3 to 16: Behind U.S. Paralympics Nordic’s Medal Leap in PyeongChang

Jason AlbertApril 10, 2018

Success to failure. Failure to success. Two trends of two extremes on the performance metrics on the international cross-country skiing spectrum. There are many in-betweens: scoring World Cup points with a top 30, top 10’s, any spot on the podium. There are the Olympic and Paralympic quads featuring a four-year buildup to North America’s singular focus on bronze, silver and gold hardware. When considering how to develop talent, placing athletes on snow with the absolute...

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