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With the Beijing Winter Paralympics set for March 4-13 – now simply 100 days away – beneath is a sport-by-sport breakdown outlining all 78 occasions contested in China and the names to know because the U.S. goals to construct on its 36-medal efficiency from 2018, which marked its most in 16 years …
Alpine Snowboarding
Beijing Dates: March 5 (downhill), 6 (super-G), 8 (tremendous mixed), 10 (males’s large slalom), 11 (ladies’s large slalom), 12 (males’s slalom), 13 (ladies’s slalom)
Beijing Venue: Nationwide Alpine Ski Heart in Yanqing
Variety of Occasions: 30 (males’s and ladies’s downhill, large slalom, slalom, super-G, tremendous mixed for sitting, standing and visually impaired lessons)
U.S. Medals: 253 because the sport’s 1976 debut
Individuals to Watch: Laurie Stephens has been impressing since she gained the general crystal globe in her rookie 2004 season and is a favourite so as to add to her assortment of seven Paralympic medals she amassed over the previous 4 Video games. She is going to flip 38 on the primary day of competitors in Beijing and age hasn’t slowed her down; Stephens gained three medals in 4 races at a February 2021 World Cup. A win in Beijing would mark her first Paralympic title in 16 years. Andrew Kurka, the one U.S. alpine skier to win gold in 2018 – when he grew to become the primary Alaskan Paralympic medalist, may enhance on his two-medal efficiency from PyeongChang – and simply 4 months earlier than his deliberate vacation spot wedding ceremony to Verónica Quezada. He earned a medal of every shade on the 2017 World Championships and at one among his most up-to-date competitions, a February 2020 World Cup, gained gold in downhill, large slalom and super-G. Thomas Walsh, childhood good friend of Mikaela Shiffrin, is on observe to earn his first Paralympic medal after taking dwelling two bronzes from the latest world championships in 2019. Additionally look ahead to the return of three-time Paralympic medalist Danelle Umstead, who’s guided by her husband Rob, after she broke her tibia and fibia in 2020. The Umsteads hope to make a fourth and last Paralympic look, throughout which Danelle can be 50 years outdated.
Nordic Snowboarding
Beijing Dates: March 5-9, 11-13
Beijing Venue: Nationwide Biathlon Heart and Nationwide Cross-Nation Venue in Zhangjiakou
Variety of Occasions: 38 (three males’s and ladies’s cross-country distances for sitting, standing, visually impaired lessons; three males’s and ladies’s biathlon occasions for sitting, standing, visually impaired lessons; one blended and one open cross-country relay)
U.S. Medals: 45 since cross-country snowboarding’s 1976 and biathlon’s 1988 debuts
Individuals to Watch: A whopping 16 of the 45 Paralympic medals the U.S. has ever earned in biathlon and cross-country snowboarding got here on the 2018 Paralympics, and the 4 athletes accountable for 15 of these are anticipated to be again in Beijing. Oksana Masters, a four-sport Paralympian on the previous 5 Video games, is a podium favourite just some months after amassing her first summer season gold medals in biking. She gained two golds, two silvers and a bronze in PyeongChang and left the world championships the next yr with a good higher 5 golds and a silver. Competitor Kendall Gretsch earned the nation’s first biathlon gold in Olympic or Paralympic historical past in 2018 and added a cross-country gold, then on the 2019 World Championships earned gold, 4 silvers and a bronze. She later returned to her past love of triathlon and gained Paralympic gold in that sport this previous summer season in Tokyo, however is again on snow and prepared for a second winter Video games. With a gold, 4 silvers and a bronze, U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Dan Cnossen medaled in each particular person occasion doable in PyeongChang, then took two silvers at worlds in 2019. Jake Adicoff was accountable for the U.S.’ solely visually impaired Nordic medal – a cross-country silver – and may as soon as once more function in Beijing. Aaron Pike, Masters’ longtime boyfriend, would mark his sixth Paralympic crew simply six months after a sixth-place end within the marathon. Pike has by no means earned a Paralympic medal, summer season or winter, however did earn bronze at Nordic worlds in 2019. Then there’s a bevy of intriguing newcomers, like Dani Aravich and Liza Corso, each of whom competed in observe and discipline in Tokyo, the latter incomes silver within the 1500m T13. Josh Sweeney, who gained 2014 Paralympic gold and three world titles in sled hockey (the latest in 2019), is on the U.S. Para Nordic improvement crew and will develop into a two-sport Paralympian in March.
Sled Hockey
Beijing Dates: March 5-6, 8-13 (bronze = March 12; gold = March 13)
Beijing Venue: Nationwide Indoor Stadium in Beijing
Variety of Occasions: 1 (the game is technically blended gender)
U.S. Medals: 5 because the sport’s 1994 debut
U.S. Outlook: The U.S. has 4 occasions as many Paralympic sled hockey gold medals as another nation, and all indicators level to a fourth consecutive gold medal in Beijing. Perennial rival Canada, which is tied with Norway and the U.S. for probably the most medals within the sport (5), is prone to be the most important risk to the Stars and Stripes. The 2 groups reached the ultimate on the 2018 Paralympics and the final 5 world championships, with Canada profitable two of these (2013, 2017). The newest 20-man U.S. roster contains 10 Paralympic champions, highlighted by Josh Pauls, who has been on each crew because the U.S. win streak began in 2010; Declan Farmer, who 4 years in the past tied the Paralympic file for event targets (11); Brody Roybal, the 2018 Paralympic event MVP; Jen Lee, who’s poised to take over for recently-retired Steve Money as lead goaltender at his third Video games; and Rico Roman, who can be the oldest on the crew at 41.
Snowboarding
Beijing Dates: March 6-7 (snowboardcross), 11-12 (banked slalom)
Beijing Venue: Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou
Variety of Occasions: 8 (males’s and ladies’s snowboardcross and banked slalom for athletes with “much less exercise limitation,” corresponding to below-the-knee amputation; males’s snowboardcross and banked slalom for above-the-knee amputees or these with “important mixed impairment in two legs”; males’s snowboardcross and banked slalom for these with upper-limb impairments that have an effect on steadiness)
U.S. Medals: 17 because the sport’s 2014 debut
Individuals to Watch: The latest sport to the Winter Paralympics has been dominated by Individuals, who personal 17 of the 36 medals awarded thus far in snowboarding. The Netherlands follows with a mere six. The 2022 U.S. squad will probably be led by 4 skilled males – all of whom are fathers – who will duke it out for the rostrum in two of the three males’s classifications. Two of the boys who had been a part of a historic 2014 U.S. sweep anticipate to be on the rostrum for a 3rd consecutive Video games and each have good purpose for wanting gold. Evan Robust, who led the Sochi sweep when snowboarding had only one occasion per gender, longs to face atop the rostrum once more after leaving PyeongChang with banked slalom silver and fourth place in snowboardcross. Keith Gabel earned snowboardcross bronze behind him in 2014, then upgraded that to LL2 snowboardcross silver in 2018; he gained the world title in 2019 and is poised for his finest Paralympic efficiency but. Noah Elliott and Mike Schultz, who compete within the LL1 class, each gained two medals apiece of their Paralympic debuts 4 years in the past and once more on the 2019 World Championships. Brittani Coury, a registered nurse who served on the entrance strains through the Covid pandemic, hopes to match or higher the shock silver she scored within the LL2 banked slalom 4 years in the past, although she is going to carve her personal path to Beijing after declining her nationwide crew nomination to do what’s finest for her psychological well being. The ladies’s LL1 occasions, which had been gained by Brenna Huckaby in PyeongChang, have been faraway from the Paralympic program.
Wheelchair Curling
Beijing Dates: March 5-12 (bronze = March 11; gold = March 12)
Beijing Venue: Nationwide Aquatics Heart in Beijing
Variety of Occasions: 1 (the game is blended gender)
U.S. Medals: 0 because the sport’s 2006 debut
U.S. Outlook: 4 Paralympic appearances in and the U.S. has but to medal in wheelchair curling, ending as excessive as fourth in 2010 (dropping the bronze by two factors to Sweden) and as little as twelfth – aka final – in 2018. The game had been dominated by three-time champion Canada on the Video games, till PyeongChang the place China and Norway made it to the ultimate. China gained, 6-5, and Canada took the bronze over South Korea, 5-3. Whereas the apparent storyline to comply with in Beijing is whether or not Canada can return to the highest of the rostrum within the sport, U.S. sports activities followers ought to watch to see if the U.S. can use the momentum of a current upswing to upset some top-ranked groups and earn its first Paralympic medal within the sport. After having to win the “B” world championship to even qualify for the 2021 World Wheelchair Curling Championship, the U.S. completed a powerful fourth place, its finest end since a 2008 bronze. After going 8-3 within the spherical robin, the Individuals – together with former UConn basketball participant and 2018 Paralympian Steve Emt – beat Canada to achieve the semifinal. Emt would be the solely participant with Paralympic expertise in Beijing, joined by skip Matthew Thums, second David Samsa, third Pam Wilson and alternate Oyuna Uranchimeg.
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