TOBLACH, Italy — After cancelled events in Poland last week the Nordic Skiing system finally got underway this weekend in Toblach.
The United States came away with four wins in the 10km classical events. Jake Adicoff (Guide: Jake Brown) won the men’s vision impaired double, finishing in a time of 30:37.9 in the time trial, just clear of Zebasitian Modin (SWE, Guide: Emil Joensson) who had a factored time of 30:53.4. Thursday’s finish was even closer, a one second win for Adicoff in the mass start, Modin just couldn’t close the gap.
The other US golds were won by a familiar face, Oksana Masters, finishing just 20 seconds clear of teammate Kendall Gretsch to win the women’s sitting races both days.
North America wasn’t done with medals in the 10km classical races there; CanadianMark Arendz claimed the men’s standing race finishing almost one minute ahead of his nearest rival. His was the only win that wasn’t repeated in the mass start race, swapping second place with Japanese skier Taiki Kawayoke.
His teammate Brittany Hudak medaled in the women’s standing interval start, finishing a distant second to Norwegian great Vilde Nilsen before finishing third in the mass-start which was again won by Nilsen.
The hosts had something to cheer about in the men’s sitting which was claimed by Giuseppe Romele who beat out Ukrainian Pavlo Bal twice. This race saw more medals the Canadians with Derek Zaplotinsky claiming bronze in both races.
Germany dominated the women’s vision impaired races with Linn Kazmaier (Guide: Florian Baumann) finishing well in front of her teammate Leonie Maria Walter (Guide: Christian Krasman) to win both races.
Sundays saw the event switch to freestyle after the sprit races were cancelled. It opened with another home gold for Romele to sweep the men’s sitting classification. This time it was Brazilian Cristian Westemaier Barrera who finished second, relegating Bal to bronze.
Masters also completed her sweep, again beating teammate Gretsch, by just five seconds, as the two set a marker for the rest of the field to try and catch next week in Martell.
The men’s standing saw a drastically different result on Sunday with German Marco Meier claiming gold with Arendz not starting the race. Serheii Romaniuk (UKR) finished in second just seven seconds back. Nilsen completed her sweep of the women’s standing events easily, more than a minute ahead of Ukrainian duo Oleksandra Kononova and Liudmyla Liashenko.
Adicoff completed his sweep of the men’s vision impaired races, putting the Americans top of the medal table with six. The German domination of the women’s standing was broken in the freestyle race when Simona Bubenickova (CZE) claimed the gold by seven seconds from Kazmaier.
TERNI, Italy — Friday was a day for team events at the World Wheelchair Fencing Championships and it was China who claimed success winning both events.
The home fans were especially disappointed by the men’s sabre loss which saw Italy defeated by China. It looked like it was going to be a dominant win for the Chinese fencers when Edoardo Giordan coming in to face Yanke Feng 20-2 down. Giordan claimed 21 points to pull Italy back into the contest.
But that was as good as it would get as Chinese fencers Yeng Cheng, Li Hao and Feng pulled away to claim the world title.
The bronze medal match was also a European v Asian battle. This time it was the Europeans that came out as victors. The French team of Ludovic Lemoine, Maxime Valet and Serge Robin claimed victory over India.
China claimed the other team gold of the day with a tighter win in the women’s team epee. Thailand fought hard but fell to a 45-43 scoreline to the defending Paralympic champions.
Xufeng Zou led the team, fresh from claiming the individual world title in the A category, winning all of her bouts. The B category winner, Saysunee Jana, pulled Thailand back into the bout to make it a close finish but couldn’t do enough to overcome the deficit.
France couldn’t get a double bronze as they fell to Hungary in the bronze medal bout, allowing the Hungarians to finish in the same position as four years ago. There were seven lead changes before Hungary finally pulled away through Amarilla Veres to claim a 45-37 win.
Saturday will see competition continue with the women’s foil and men’s epee individual events.
ESPOT, Spain – The para alpine skiingWorld Championships moved to the combined races on Wednesday, with a broad swath of countries gaining gold medals.
Eva Aarsjoe (SWE) claimed the women’s standing event, dominating from the start. She claimed the win in the super-g backing up her win in that event on Tuesday. She then extended her lead, claiming gold by winning the slalom. She was the only skier in the classification to go under two minutes.
Chiara Mazzel (ITA) managed the same feat in the women’s visual impaired classification. She won the Super-G in a rapid 58.54. In the afternoon, she backed up to win the slalom and finish with a combined 1:59.95.
All three women’s classifications were won in sweeps, as Anna-Lena Forster (GER) easily won the women’s sitting event. She won her second gold medal of the meet, winning the combined gold by a margin of over 14 seconds.
Johannes Aigner (AUT) swept his classification after two close races. He claimed the super-g in 52.79 before backing up to win the slalom and the event by less than one second from Giacomo Bertagnolli.
Robin Cuche (SUI) won the men’s standing super-g to take a handy lead into the slalom. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to hold on. A blistering run from Arthur Bauchet of 53.15 in the slalom saw the Frenchman win the combined event. He finished over four seconds clear of Cuche, who just couldn’t hold on.
Jesper Pedersen (NOR) got quicker in the slalom after winning the super-g in the men’s sitting classification. He won the super-g in the morning in 54.4 before going even faster in the slalom, winning in 53.42. Despite those quick times, he was less than one second ahead of silver medalist Rene de Silvestro (ITA).
The world championship moves to giant slalom on Thursday before a rest day on Friday.
MADEIRA, Portugal – Italy claimed the number one ranking in the 2022 Para World Swimming Championships this weekend in Madeira. It was the second straight time the Italians finished on top of the medal tally, winning 27 gold medals.
The final of those medals came in the last event of the championships, the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay 34 points, breaking the world record with a time of 4:02.53. That saw Simone Barlaam and Stefanoe Raimondi claim their sixth gold medals, joined by Giulia Terzi and Xenia Palazzo on top of the podium for the event.
It was the second win for Baralaam and Raimondi of the night. Baralaam won the men’s 50m freestyle S9, equaling his world record. Raimondi won the men’s 100m backstroke S10 earlier in the day.
The USA had an excellent final day, claiming five gold medals to lift itself up to second place in the table. Leanne Smith completed a perfect week, winning her seventh gold medal after two more gold medals on the final day.
Brazil was third in the medal tally, managing 19 gold medals. Two gold medals, one to Gabriel Bandeira and the other to Mariana Ribeiro, pushed them into third.
Tully Kearney (GBR) set her third world record for the meet. This time it was the women’s 100m freestyle S5 with a time of 1:13:34. That will be something Kearney tries to continue on next year at the home world championships in Manchester.
ZAGREB, Croatia – The Czech Republic claimed seven medals, four of them gold in the first boccia event of 2022, the Zagreb World Boccia Challenger.
The first Czech Republic gold came in the BC1 male event when Roman Sajdak had too much for Nikolaos Bouloukos (GRE) in the final. The country’s only other individual gold medalist was Adam Peska who claimed the BC3 Male gold ahead of Mirco Garavaglia (ITA).
On the team event days to close out the tournament the Czechs claimed two more gold, claiming the BC3 Pairs, beating Slovakia in the final and the team event when they beat Greece. The three other Czech medals were a silver medal to Barbara Skopalova in the BC1 female event and bronze medals to Marcela Cermakova and Radek Prochazka in the BC3 female and BC4 male events respectively.
The only other team medal went to Hungary which beat Croatia for the BC4 pair gold medal. That saw Alexandra Szabo come away with two gold medals after she won the BC4 female individual event as well.
The hosts did relatively well, claiming three medals. Croatia’s only gold medal was in the opening event, the BC1 female event which Dora Basic claimed ahead of Skopalova. From there the focus turned to team events where the hosts could only win minor medals. Croatia claimed silver in the BC4 pair event and bronze in the team event.
Azerbaijan was the only other multiple gold medalist, claiming two gold medals and one bronze, all coming in the individual events. Songa Aghayeva beat Ana Correia (POR) in the BC2 female final while Orkhan Karimov came third in the male equivalent. Azerbaijan’s other gold medal led to an emotional moment as Bahruz Mirzayev defeated Ukrainian Artem Kolinko in the BC4 male final which saw Kolinko given a long ovation at the medal ceremony.
This tournament was the first in the new format where events will now be open to players from all continents to begin the Paris 2024 qualification process.
BEIJING – The United States had two big wins on the final day of competition at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games on Sunday to make it a good finish for the team.
The Americans’ dominance of ice hockey continued with a fourth consecutive gold medal. The USA beat Canada 4-0 in a final the country dominated from the opening minutes.
Canada had moments where the side looked threatening. Still, their North American rivals always held a measure of control.
Early in the first period Liam Hickey rushed the American net, but Jen Lee was at his best to keep the Canadian off the score sheet. That allowed him to launch a counter which gave Declan Farmer a chance to score, which he took.
That would begin the flood of goals as the United States continued its dominance of the sport for over a decade. Canada will be concerned about the looming Chinese threat; the hosts finished third here and are aiming to be in the top tier with the North Americans.
Pedersen wins fourth gold
Jesper Pedersen (NOR) sealed being the most successful athlete in Beijing as he won four gold medals. He clinched his fourth in Sunday’s men’s sitting slalom.
It was a dominant performance from Pedersen, who claimed the win six seconds ahead of silver medal winner Niels de Langen (NED).
“I exceeded all expectations. Of course, this is what I’ve been dreaming of for the last couple of years. Still, to be able to have such good events here and in Hafjell [2022 World Championships] as well, it’s been just amazing for me,” said 22-year-old Pedersen. “I’m just so happy, and now I’m ready to go home and take a well-deserved rest.”
Arthur Bauchet (FRA) was only one gold medal behind the Norwegian as he won his third gold medal in the men’s standing.
One more gold medal behind was Italian Giacomo Bertagnolli (guide: Andrea Ravelli), who will go into his home Olympic Games in four years as a great success. He won the men’s vision impaired in an entertaining race.
Relay gold makes Masters most decorated woman in Beijing
Oksana Masters (USA) clinched her third gold medal of these Games as she was part of the victorious United States cross country mixed relay team.
With Daniel Cnossen and Sydney Peters, Masters handed off to Jake Adicoff (guide: Sam Wood) for the final leg behind the Chinese. Adicoff powered away and claimed the gold medal 26 seconds ahead of the hosts to cap it for the Americans.
Ukraine had one more gold medal to win, and it was an emotional win in the open relay. Grygorii Vochysnkyi led the team of Vasyl Kravchuk, Dmytro Suiarko and Anatolii Kovalevskyi (guide: Oleksandr Mukshyn).
Needing to come from fourth place, Kovalevskyi and Mukshyn pushed and overhauled the three in front of them to take an emotional gold medal.
“This win today means Ukraine is like five fingers (one fist),” Vovchynskyi said. “It means Ukraine, the whole country, is like one person. Today our whole winning team is like one guy. Everyone supports each other, like in Ukraine now. This is like a union of all the Ukrainian people here. On this podium will be all of Ukraine together.”
BEIJING – It was a perfect finish to the individual biathlon for Ukraine at Beijing 2022 with the team claiming three gold medals.
Ukraine won eight gold, nine silver and five bronze medals at these Paralympic Games all from individual biathlon to seal the best ever performance in the sport.
Friday’s success began with Liudmyla Liashenko who claimed her first individual title by winning the women’s standing. She dominated the race from start to finish and easily claimed her long-awaited gold medal.
“It was a really long wait for me to get this gold medal. I’ve been to a lot of trainings and won a lot of gold medals in World Cups and World Championships over the past seasons. I was sure that my gold was waiting for me at these Paralympic Games and I am really happy and proud to be a Paralympic champion.”
Liudmyla Liashenko
That win was followed up by a second gold for Oksana Shyshkova (guide: Andriy Marchenko) in the women’s vision impaired. She held off a rush at the death from German pair Linn Kazmier (guide: Florian Baumann) and Leonie Maria Walter (guide: Pirmin Strecker) to win the race.
It was a sweep of the vision impaired events for Ukraine as Oleksandr Kazik (guide: Serhii Kucheriavyi) claimed men’s gold medal ahead of teammate Vitalii Lukianenko (guide: Borys Babar). China continued its good Games as Shuang Yu (guide: Wang Guanyu) claimed bronze.
Photo: OIS/Chloe Knott
Benjamin Daviet (FRA) backed up from winning a gold medal earlier in the Games as he claimed the gold in the men’s standing. That saw another medal for Ukraine with Grygorii Vovchynskyi claiming the bronze medal, the pair were joined on the podium by Mark Arendz (CAN).
A perfectly paced race by Oksana Masters (USA) overcome her teammate Kendall Gretsch in the final 2.5km to claim gold in the women’s sitting. It was her second gold medal of the games with China adding another medal through Yilin Shan.
China got another gold medal in the men’s standing through Liu Mengtao who controlled the whole race. He was joined on the podium by a teammate as Zixu Liu came third, while silver was another one for Ukraine through Taras Rad.
Aiger family dominates alpine skiing
Austrian sisters, the Aigers, had a big day on the alpine skiing slopes taking home three medals in the women’s vision impaired giant slalom.
Veronika, guided by Elisabeth took home the gold medal while their sister Barbara claimed the bronze medal with her guide Klara Sykora.
Momoka Muraoka (JPN) claimed her third gold medal as she won the women’s standing yet again. A rapid second run, seven seconds faster than the rest of the field, saw her claim the gold medal. She led two Chinese athletes in Liu Sitong and Zhang Wenjing.
China managed one more gold in the alpine events with Zhang Mengqiu transitioning successfully from speed to technical events in the women’s sitting. She won both runs, pushing Mollie Jepsen (CAN) to second with Andrea Rothfuss (GER).
China continues to dominate snowboarding
Photo: OIS/Thomas Lovelock
The Chinese gold rush continued on the snowboarding slopes as the hosts claimed three gold medals in the banked snowboard slalom.
It was a sweep of the men’s lower limb classifications for China as Wu Zhongwei won the SB-LL1 and Sun Qi won the SB-LL2.
Wu was dominant in the SB-LL1 winning both runs to cruise to victory ahead of Chris Vos (NED) who recovered from his disappointing snowboard cross final. In third place was the snowboard cross champion, Tyler Turner (CAN).
Sun was measured to claim gold, stunning world champion Matti Suur Hamari (FIN). There was history on the lowest step of the podium as Ollie Hall won the first snowboard Paralympic medal for Great Britain.
Another one looking to make up for disappointment in snowboard cross was Maxime Montaggioni (FRA) in the men’s SB-UL. It was a tight race after one run with Ji Lijia (CHN) leading Montaggioni by 0.01 seconds. The second run was a bigger difference with Montaggioni winning by 0.46 to claim the gold medal.
Ji said: “That’s like a finger’s distance. It’s OK.”
Brenna Huckaby (USA) received vindication by winning gold in the women’s banked slalom SB-LL2. Usually a competitor in the higher impairment SB-LL1, Huckaby won a lawsuit to compete up in the lower impairment category. That proved very worth it as she came back from second place in the first run to power past the Chinese pair of Geng Yanhong and Li Tiantian.
2018 rematch set in ice hockey final
Two lopsided semifinals set up a rematch of the 2018 ice hockey final as Canada and the USA both managed 11-0 wins to advance.
Canada managed the result against South Korea while the USA was surprisingly emphatic against the previously undefeated Chinese.
The two North Americans will meet for the second time in this tournament in the final. The previous match was won by the USA 5-0.
The only other game of the day was the fifth-place playoff, which Italy won. The Italians beat the Czech Republic in a thriller, 4-3.
China and Sweden win curling semifinals
China will defend its curling title after backing up to win the semifinal over Canada, they will take on Sweden in the battle for gold after the surprise package continued its good results.
It was a comfortable win for China, getting past Canada 9-5, firmly showing that dominance of the sport has shifted east.
Sweden guaranteed its best finish with a thrilling 6-4 win over Slovakia. Trailing coming into the 6th end, Sweden knew it needed to work and picked up a point. The Swedes picked up a point in each of the last three ends to take the win.
That moved the two losers into the bronze medal game and Canada emerged victorious. A stunning take out from Jon Thurston with the final draw of the game saw Canada claim four points and an 8-3 win for its second straight bronze medal.
BEIJING – It has been an incredible Beijing 2022 for Finland‘s Santeri Kiiveri. That continued Thursday as he clinched another historic alpine skiing medal for his country as the men’s giant slalom events awarded medals.
Earlier in the Games, Kiiveri won his country’s first alpine skiing medal with silver in the super-combined. Today he went one better, getting Finland’s first alpine skiing Paralympic gold medal with a win in the men’s standing giant slalom.
“The giant slalom has all the time been really good for me but I haven’t been able to do good runs in the races and now everything came together,” said the champion. “It’s been a great job for me. After the first medal I decided that now I would just enjoy and go full gas and that paid off.”
It was a very close race; Thomas Walsh (USA) was only 0.04 seconds behind in one of the tightest finishes ever. Arthur Bauchet (FRA) sealed his third medal by finishing third.
Photo: OIS
Another skier won his third medal as Jesper Pedersen (NOR) claimed gold in the men’s sitting. It’s his third gold of the games as he continues his consistent performances. He was joined on the podium by Rene de Silvestro (ITA) and Liang Zilu (CHN).
A thrilling second run from Johannes Aigner (AUT) (guide: Matteo Fleischmann) saw him come from behind to claim gold in the men’s visually impaired. That saw Giacomo Bertagnolli (ITA) (guide: Andrea Ravelli) step up to try and overhaul Aiger’s time. Still, he fell short, losing his title and falling to second place.
China, Sweden, Canada and Slovakia qualify for curling semifinals
Photo: OIS Photos
As the round-robin completed on Thursday, China and Canada will join the European duo of Sweden and Slovakia in the Beijing 2022 wheelchair curling semifinals.
There were concerns that the hosts would not make it through to the semifinals after losing their first two matches, but those concerns were quickly put to rest. After losing the first two games, China came back and won seven straight, capping that with a 6-3 win over Great Britain in the morning.
Canada needed two wins to qualify and got them managing a 9-3 win over Estonia and a 7-6 win over Norway. Those results set up a semifinal rematch from four years ago when China stunned the previously unbeaten Canadians.
Sweden had to fight off a spirited performance from the Americans to seal a place in the semifinals. Sweden came from behind to defeat the USA 10-7 on the back of a perfect seventh end.
Slovakia clinched its first curling semifinal appearance thanks to beating Switzerland 8-6 in the morning. That then needed Great Britain beat Latvia, which happened with an 8-4 win sending Slovakia through.
The two European sides will faceoff in the other semifinal; Sweden will be seeking its first curling medal since 2006.
BEIJING – Canada lifted up to third place on the medal tally after its strongest day at Beijing 2022. A record-breaking performance from Brian McKeever was a particular highlight.
McKeever (guide: Graham Kennedy) won his 14th Paralympic Games gold medal in his favorite event, the men’s vision impaired long-distance cross country.
“I’m still hungry. I still love training every day. When we are out there, we are still competing against each other on the training sessions.”
Brian McKeever
Jake Adicoff (USA) (guide: Sam Wood) might be the one to take over McKeever’s throne as he finished in a close second place. Zebastian Modin (SUI) (guide: Emil Joensson Haag) was behind the two North Americans to take bronze.
Canada’s good day continued in the women’s standing which was claimed by Natalie Wilkie who was joined on the podium by teammate Brittany Hudak who claimed the bronze medal. Splitting the pair was American Sydney Peterson.
Oksana Shyshkova (UKR) (guide: Andriy Marchenko) repeated her opening day heroics as she claimed gold in the women’s vision impaired and is looking to control the classification.
“I think I will realize my great achievement here after everything ends and I get home, but all our medals that our team win here we dedicate to Ukraine and to every citizen of Ukraine,” Shyshkova said.
In comparison to McKeever Taiki Kawayoke (JPN) claimed his maiden gold medal claiming the men’s standing, finishing 90 seconds clear of the field.
Canadian history continues in snowboard
Photo: OIS/Thomas Lovelock
History continued for the Canadian team on the snowboard slope as Lisa Dejong claimed her country’s first medal in the sport, winning the women’s snowboard-cross SB-LL2. Cecile Hernandez (FRA) claimed gold, the pair upsetting American Brenna Huckaby.
Things got better for Canada in the men’s SB-LL1 as Tyler Turner backed up his world championship finishing ahead of defending champion Mike Schultz (USA).
“This is crazy. Four years ago I didn’t even think I’d snowboard, and now standing on top of the podium, it’s unbelievable.”
Tyler Turner
It was an all-Chinese final in the men’s SB-UL which shocked the sport after Maxime Montaggioni was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Ji Lija claimed the gold medal ahead of Wang Pengayo and Zhu Yonggang.
Matti Suur-Hamari (FIN) defended his title in the men’s SB-LL2 with two first-time medalists behind him. Garret Geros (USA) finished in second while Ben Tudhope (AUS) completed the podium.
Big comeback sees Forster claim combined gold
Photo: OIS/Simon Bruty
After being disappointed to miss out on the downhill and super-G, Anna Lena-Forster (GER) claimed the gold medal in the women’s sitting super combined.
Coming fourth in the super-G, Forster had to overcome an almost 10-second deficit to claim the gold medal but was rapid in the slalom to win it. The gold ended Momoka Muraoka’s (JPN) hope of sweeping the classification as she was forced to settle for second.
There was another comeback in the women’s standing as Ebba Aarsjoe (SWE) who came back from three seconds back in the super-G to claim the gold medal thanks to a great run in the slalom. That relegated Zhang Mengqui (CHN) to the silver medal.
Jesper Pederson (NOR) claimed his second gold medal in as many days as he won the men’s sitting. The Dutch pair of Jeroen Kampschreur and Nils de Langen rounded out the podium.
After finally breaking through for his first Paralympic title Arthur Bauchet doubled up as he won the men’s standing. Santeri Kiiveri (FIN) claimed his country’s first alpine Paralympic medal finishing in second while Adam Hall (NZL) finished third.
Henrieta Farkasova (SVK) (guide: Michal Cerven) claimed yet another gold medal, her 11th. A stunning slalom run pushed her past Zhu Daqing (CHN) (guide: Yan Hanhan). The men’s race was won by Giacomo Bertagnolli (ITA) (guide: Andrea Ravelli).
Baltics claim first curling wins
Photo: OIS/Bob Martin
It was a historic day for Estonia and Latvia as both managed their first Paralympic curling wins. Estonia came out victorious in the Baltic derby before stunning the defending silver medalists Norway. In Latvia’s second game they shocked the world championship silver medalists Sweden to get on the board.
China had its best day of the Bonspiel so far, winning both of its games today. The hosts beat South Korea 9-4 and Switzerland 7-4 to secure a 3-3 record.
Canada fell for the first time of the tournament as Sweden stunned the defending champions 6-3 in the morning session.
BEIJING – It was an emotional moment on the biathlon field as Ukraine managed to sweep the men’s vision impaired sprint biathlon to open the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.
Vitalii Lukianenko (guide: Borys Babar) took gold in his first Paralympic Games, leading home a pair of compatriots. Oleksandr Kazik (guide: Serhii Kucherriayvi) managed a stunning comeback. After missing a shot, he used his speed to claim silver. By comparison, clean shooting saw Dmytro Suiarko (guide: Oleksandr Nikonovych) claim bronze.
The good results for Ukraine continued, picking up two more gold medals. Oksana Shsyshkova (guide: Andriy Marchenko) finally got the gold medal that had been eluding her in the women’s vision impaired sprint biathlon.
“When I entered the start, all thoughts were only about my family, my relatives, everybody who is in Ukraine,” Shyshkova said. “My race, my victory, is dedicated to them.”
The men’s standing was claimed by Grigorii Vovchynski, who completed Ukraine’s haul of medals, putting his country on top of the medal tally at the end of the first day.
China wins more medals on day one than all Winter Paralympics combined
Zixu Liu racing in the men’s sitting Biathlon (Photo: OIS/Thomas Lovelock)
Coming into Beijing 2022, the hosts had only won one medal in the Winter Paralympic Games, but in one day, they lifted that total to eight.
Two of those were gold medals from the biathlon field as Zixu Liu and Yujie Guo; Liu claimed the men’s sitting title while Guo won the women’s standing.
Guo was joined on the podium by compatriot Zhiqing Zhao, the pair sandwiched by another Ukrainian, Liudmyla Liashenko.
The combination of countries was the same in Liu’s event, with Ukraine’s Taras Rad separating the Chinese pair as Mengtao Liu took bronze.
There was history in the only event not won by Ukraine or China. Oksana Masters became the first person to win a winter and summer Paralympic gold in the same 12 months since the two events were staged in different years. Masters made up for her error from four years ago and managed her first clean shoot of the season to claim the women’s sitting gold medal. She was joined on the podium by compatriot, and fellow Tokyo gold medalist, Kendell Gretsch. At the same time, China’s Yilin Shan won the silver medal.
“I owe a lot to my mom and then it is for Team Ukraine and Ukrainian people. It is as much for Team USA as it is for Ukraine. I’m so proud to be Ukrainian, to be American and represent both and that’s the power of sports that you can represent so much more than just one thing.”
Oksana Masters
Henrieta Farkasova continues domination
Henrieta Farkasova celebrates after her ski in the women’s visual impaired downhill
Undefeated in eight years, Henrieta Farkasova (SVK) (guide: Martin Motyka) showed little signs of stopping in Beijing. She claimed her 10th Paralympic gold medal in the women’s visual impaired downhill.
China claimed more medals, taking silver through Daqing Zhu (guide: Hanhan Yan), while Great Britain got off to a good start with Millie Knight (guide: Brett Wild) claiming bronze.
It was a diverse collection of gold medalists in the downhill, most notably in the men’s vision impaired which was won by 16-year-old Johannes Aiger (guide: Matteo Fleischmann) in the first downhill race the pair had ever completed. It was a close race as Aiger’s time was only 0.36 seconds clear of defending champion Mac Marcoux (CAN) (Guide: Tristan Rodgers).
“The feeling is indescribable. It was my first downhill race, and I am very happy. Unbelievable,” Aigner said. “We have never raced downhill before, just a few training days. I don’t think we realize what we have done at the moment,” Fleischmann concluded.
Women’s sitting saw two medals for Asia with gold to Japan‘s Momoka Muraoka, who stunned world champion Anna-Lena Forster (GER). China claimed yet another medal through Siton Liu’s bronze.
Three athletes claimed their first Paralympic gold medals. The most notable among them was Arthur Bauchet (FRA), who has come so close so often in the men’s standing. Another first-time Paralympic champion, Mollie Jepsen (CAN), claimed the women’s event.
The biggest shock of the day came in the men’s sitting when Corey Peters (NZL) stunned the world with an incredible time to claim the gold medal. Peters was nearly horizontal on parts of the course which allowed him to get fantastic speed to claim gold.
China’s banner day continues in ice hockey
Shen Yifeng scores his third goal for China
Expectations were high for the Chinese ice hockey team. After a stunning performance in the Division 2 World Championship, there were thoughts that China could deliver on the big stage. The hosts certainly lived up to that expectation with a dominant 7-0 win over fellow debutants Slovakia.
Shen Yifeng starred for the speedy Chinese team, scoring four goals and being all over the ice through the 45 minutes.
💥THE RECORD BREAKER💥
Declan Farmer scored once and assisted for 3⃣ more goals vs Canada 🇨🇦 to enter the record books.
The other two matches were also shutouts. In a replay of the 2018 gold medal match, the USA showed its strength beating regional rivals Canada 5-0. That would be the same scoreline in the other match as the Czech Republic beat Italy 5-0 on the back of a 3-0 first period.
Curling revenge for Canada
Canada in action in the first Curling session at Beijing 2022
After being stunned by China in the 2018 semi-final, there was excitement around the curling bonspiel opening match between Canada and China. This time Canada came through strongly and got a measure of revenge over the defending champions with a 7-3 win.
In the afternoon session, Canada would back that up, claiming an 8-4 win over Switzerland to put the team in a commanding position.
Norway won a thriller in the opening session, showing their medal credentials using a solid start to beat Great Britain 7-5. Great Britain would recover and manage a big win over the USA 10-6, completing a rough day for the Americans. They gave up too much early against Slovakia, who beat them 9-3 in the opening session.
After the first two ends, Sweden took a 4-0 lead and never looked back, claiming a 9-2 win over Switzerland.
There was little expectation for Latvia, barely able to play in the pandemic era, facing an experienced South Korean side. Still, the Baltic side showed up the form book. Latvia claimed a win in its Paralympic debut, beating the Koreans 8-4.
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