PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Day three (12 March) of the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games crowned six americans with two golds, two silver and two bronze medals. All of them claimed in the para snowboard cross course.
How do you follow up on a 10-0 victory against Japan if you are the United States Sled Hockey Team? How about another 10-0 victory over the Czech Republic? Because that’s exactly what happened. On Tuesday, in Gangneung, Team USA hit hard, and scored often against the Czech team. They scored 10 of their 31 shots on goal and 2 players: Assistant Captain Declan Farmer and Brody Roybal ended up combining for 7 of the goals. Steve Cash saved 13 shots and had the shutout.
“We’ve been training hard for a few years now since Sochi. It feels good,” said Farmer,
Team USA wraps up their preliminary matches against South Korea Wednesday at Noon, Korea Time.
For Team USA, it was a day for new beginnings and re-evaluations. The Alpensia Biathlon Center hosted Women’s 15km and Men’s 20km Standing and Visually Impaired (VI) Classifications in Cross Country Skate skiing. This will be the longest race for Cross Countries Skiers during the Winter Paralympic Games. Team USA fielded 3 athletes in the events: Jake Adicoff (VI) who placed 5th, Mia Zutter (VI) who placed 9th and Grace Miller (Standing) who placed 10th.
The Paralympic newbies Mia Zutter and Grace Miller were thrilled with their debut in the “Big Show”. Mia, a B3 skier in the visually impaired class, who skis with her guide Kristina Trygstad-Saari, finished 8th today and with a beaming smile declared,
“Oh my gosh it was so much fun, I was here last year so I kind of had an idea of what to expect. But definitely the game’s title made it a lot more nerve racking but also really fun.”
Team USA are top contenders this year in PyeongChang and they lived up to their reputation to win home 6 medals for the country. Mike Shultz (St. Cloud, Minnesota) flag bearer for Team USA won gold in SB-LL1 and said,
“Everything is falling into place. Today my qualifying run was a little rough so I got shuffled back in the brackets but I was able to refocus and just put the hammer down and keep winning through and finally winning gold.”
Brenna Huckaby (Salt Lake City, Utah) also made her Paralympic debut in PyeongChang and she too won gold in the SB-LL1 category for women.
Amy Purdy co founder of Adaptive Action Sports was radiant with pride after her silver medal win. Keith Gabel was thrilled to secure a silver medal and is excited for the Banked slalom course ahead. Mike Minor and Noah Elliot also won a much deserved bronze medals.
Evan Strong was out there to defend his Sochi gold title but for the two-time paralympian, it just wasn’t his day.
Wheelchair Sports Federation Media 