TESERO, ITALY – Biathlon competition began Saturday at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, where Paralympic athletes opened the program with a full day of sprint races across multiple classifications.

The schedule featured three 7.5‑kilometer events — women’s sitting, men’s sitting and women’s standing — each combining three laps of the course with two prone shooting stages. Missed targets require athletes to ski a 100‑meter penalty loop, making accuracy on the range as important as speed on the snow.

Athletes from around the world took to the course under sunny skies and warming conditions as the Milano Cortina Paralympic biathlon competition got underway.

---

WOMEN’S SITTING SPRINT

Oksana Masters opened the Para biathlon competition for Team USA with a gold medal, winning the women’s sitting sprint in 21:21.3 with a perfect 10‑for‑10 shooting performance.

Teammate Kendall Gretsch matched that accuracy on the range and finished second, 16 seconds behind Masters to give the United States a 1–2 finish. Germany’s Anja Wicker claimed the bronze medal.

Masters established an early rhythm on the Tesero course while Gretsch fell behind through the opening laps and had to make up some time and even moved into the virtual lead after a quick second visit to the range.

Nicole Zaino was the first American starter in the race and finished 11th after recording two misses and shooting requiring penalty laps.

“I’m really excited and I’m just happy to get the first race under your belt,” Gretsch said. “It’s been so long since we’ve raced this season, so you just never know where you’re at.”

Masters regained the advantage on the final lap and powered through the stadium to secure the win.

“Oh my gosh, my emotions are just pure shock,” Masters said. “I did not expect a podium finish to be honest, let alone a gold.”

---

MEN’S SITTING SPRINT

The men’s sitting sprint followed with a field of 28 athletes competing on the same 7.5‑kilometer course.

Ukraine’s Taras Rad captured gold in 19:55.5, followed by China’s Liu Mengtao and Liu Zixu in second and third place.

Joshua Sweeney led Team USA with a fifth‑place finish in 20:28.1 after hitting all 10 targets. Aaron Pike followed closely in sixth place with another clean shooting performance, while Michael Kneeland finished 19th.

Sweeney briefly held the lead after completing his run before several Ukrainian and Chinese athletes finished and moved ahead on the leaderboard.

Pike said changing conditions on the course made the race challenging.

“It was blazing fast during warm‑up and the conditions changed fast,” Pike said. “Any given day out here you never know what’s going to happen.”

---

WOMEN’S STANDING SPRINT

The women’s standing sprint concluded the day with an 11‑athlete field competing in increasingly soft snow conditions.

Ukraine’s Oleksandra Kononova captured gold with a clean shooting performance and a calculated time of 18:41.5. Canada’s Natalie Wilkie finished second, while Ukraine’s Liudmyla Liashenko took bronze.

Sydney Peterson led the American results with a fourth‑place finish in 19:19.8. Despite three missed targets, Peterson posted the fastest ski time of the race and surged on the final lap to finish just outside the podium.

“The goal going in was to ski very fast and then take my time on the range and be extra diligent to try and hit my shots,” Peterson said. “Unfortunately that maybe wasn’t executed to my best ability, but the rest of the week will have more opportunities.”

Danielle Aravich finished 10th for Team USA after recording two penalties.

With several races still to come in the biathlon schedule, the opening day results positioned the U.S. team well as competition continues throughout the week at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.