Mar 11, 2022 - Sports
Team USA's Oksana Masters and Kendall Gretsch add to Paralympics medal haul
From left to right: Kendall Gretsch of Team USA, Oksana Masters of Team USA and Yilin Shan of Team China. Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Team USA Paralympic Nordic skiers Oksana Masters and Kendall Gretsch won the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the women's individual sitting 12.5km biathlon.
The big picture: It's the third time within a week that Masters and Gretsch podiumed together. The two have a combined eight medals at this year's Games.
- Masters has won five medals at the Games, while Gretsch has picked up three.
- Team China's Yilian Shan earned bronze in the women's sitting 12.5km biathlon event.
Earlier this week, Masters reflected on the difficulty of competing amid Russia's ongoing invasion of her birthplace, Ukraine.
- "I feel selfish, helpless, and guilty for being here," she wrote in an Instagram post. "However, I have always been so proud to be Ukrainian, felt so much pride at the sight of the Ukrainian flag, and now more than ever, I am the proudest to say I am Ukrainian. My mom always said my Ukrainian heart made me resilient; it made me a fighter."
- Masters was born in Ukraine with defects to her limbs and some organs linked to the nearby Chernobyl nuclear disaster. She had both of her legs amputated above the knee as a child and spent time in an orphanage before being adopted by an American woman, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes.
Go deeper: "Strong spirit": Ukrainian athletes show resolve after Russian invasion