PARIS – It was another successful day for the U.S. at the Paralympics. The United States added ten medals to get its count to reach 63 (15 gold, 17 silver, 12 bronze), good for third amongst all delegations.

Team USA women’s wheelchair basketball advanced to the semifinals thanks to a 59-52 win over Great Britain. The U.S. was powered to victory by point rebound double-doubles from Rose Hollerman and Ixhelt Gonzalez. In its last semifinal chance, against China during the Tokyo games, the U.S. fell 41-36.

“It feels amazing. We’ve been working on this moment for the past three years, ever since Tokyo (2020). We’ve had a few bumps in the road where tournaments were canceled and pushed back, but we’ve been waiting for this moment,” said Gonzalez.

In archery, the U.S. saw the journey of two of its competitors come to an end. In the men’s individual recurve open round of 16, both Eric Bennet and Jordan White were defeated by a score of 6-2. White, at just 15, was the youngest Para-archer in Team USA history.

On the road cycling track, the United States won three medals. Oksana Masters snatched her mind-boggling 18th Paralympic medal thanks to a finish under 24 minutes in the women’s H4-5 individual time trial. In the H1-3 individual time trial, Kate Brim claimed gold for her first-ever medal. Rounding out the U.S. athletes to reach the podium was Samantha Bosco, who claimed gold in the C4 individual time trial with a time of 21:39.24.

“I definitely am appreciating being here, being able to race my bike. I took that to the start of the race. When it got really hard and I felt like I was slowly dying, I just remembered those moments and just pushed with everything I had and left my heart out on the road,” remarked Bosco.

In wheelchair fencing, the United States had a tough day during individual foil competition. No U.S. fencer made it past the round of 16 in their classification, and none could win any bouts in the repechage rounds. Jataya Taylor, who won her first bout of the day but lost the next two, said the matches were an eye-opener.

“It definitely showed me that I have a long way to go,” said the Coloradoan. “There are areas that are certainly lacking that I need to pick up.”

In the Stade de France, the U.S. continued to rack up the hardware in athletic events. In the morning session. Noelle Malkamaki took gold in women’s shot put. In the evening session, Derrick Loccident and Jarryd Wallace got silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s long jump-T64 final. 6th time Paralympian Tatyana McFadden captured silver in the women’s 100-meter T54, missing gold by .17 seconds.

Swimming continued to be a bright spot for the USA. In the women’s 400-meter S8, Jessica Long won gold, her 30th-ever Paralympic medal. In a pair of 100-meter freestyle events, S7 and S9, Christie Raleigh-Crossley and Morgan Stickney captured silver.

“This is my sixth Paralympics that I’ve proven that I can win a gold medal. I just tried to channel and put my head down, and I was like: ‘You know what? This last 50m might hurt, but not doing well might hurt even more,” said Long.

PHOTO OF THE DAY:

ON THURSDAY:

The U.S. has a chance to add to its medal count by eight at the Stade de France with gold medal matches throughout the day. USA wheelchair fencing gets back in action after a disappointing day, looking to improve its results in the foil team competition. U.S. sitting volleyball is in crunch time, playing Brazil in a semifinal matchup. On the basketball court, the USA men’s squad battles its up-north neighbor, Canada, in a semifinal matchup on its quest to win its third straight Paralympic gold. Para road cycling switches from time trials to races, with a number of Americans on the track. Para Judo gets its start, with the lone U.S. athlete competing Liana Mutia in the women’s -57 kg J1 tournament.