CORTINA, ITALY – Team USA earned two medals Monday in the Super-G at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, where a terrain-heavy course and warming conditions tested athletes throughout the race.

The Olympia delle Tofane course demanded precision from the start. Unlike downhill, Super-G athletes receive no training runs, relying only on course inspection before racing. The layout featured a steep opening section, wide turns through the middle, and terrain that produced several jumps before the final glide to the finish.

Course conditions were a factor throughout the race. Organizers moved the start earlier, shifting the race from 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and the surface held early before softening as temperatures rose.

Athletes said the earlier start helped preserve the surface during the opening races.

“They did a good job of pushing the start back a little earlier today, and the course held up really well because of that,” Tyler McKenzie said. “At the end of the day, if you’re hitting the soft stuff it means you’re offline anyway. I thought they did a good job making that adjustment after the downhill.”

Women’s Super-G – Vision Impaired

The day began with the women’s vision impaired race, where Megan Gustafson and guide Spenser Gustafson, her brother, represented Team USA.

Gustafson, the youngest athlete on the entire U.S. Paralympic Team in Milano Cortina, started last in the field. The pair stayed high through terrain sections and maintained speed over a roll late in the course before finishing eighth.

“I don’t usually get to be the youngest when I’m competing,” Gustafson said. “So it’s refreshing to be the youngest and get some different perspectives than I’m used to.”

Italy’s Chiara Mazzel won the race ahead of Austria’s Veronika Aigner and Slovakia’s Alexandra Rexova.

Women’s Super-G – Standing

Kelsey O’Driscoll led the American results in the women’s standing race, finishing seventh after nearly falling twice during her run.

“I almost fell over twice and still finished,” O’Driscoll said. “We’ll take the little wins. You don’t always have to win a medal to feel like you won your race.”

O’Driscoll said skiing remains the place where she feels most like herself.

“Sometimes I forget that I’m disabled. When I’m skiing, it’s just me and my skis.”

Audrey Crowley finished eighth after running wide entering a technical section midway through the course and worked to regain her line through the remainder of the run.

Allie Johnson finished 13th after a line error on the traverse forced her wide through several gates and cost speed through the final section.

Russia’s Varvara Voronchikhina won the race ahead of France’s Aurélie Richard and Sweden’s Ebba Aarsjoe.

Women’s Super-G – Sitting

Anna Soens led the Americans in the sitting classification with a fourth-place finish. She skied a controlled middle section and recovered through the final large turn.

She said finishing the race was an important step after racing downhill earlier in the week and noted that the earlier races helped prepare her for the terrain.

Saylor O’Brien skied aggressively through sections of the course and finished fifth, continuing to gain experience in the speed events.

Spain’s Audrey Pascual Seco won the race ahead of Japan’s Momoka Muraoka and China’s Liu Sitong.

Men’s Super-G – Standing

The men’s standing race produced the first U.S. medal of the day as Patrick Halgren skied to silver, the second Paralympic medal of his career.

Halgren held a tight line through the gates and carried speed through the wide turns near the bottom of the course. After brushing a gate early, he maintained speed into the finish to secure second place behind Switzerland’s Robin Cuche. France’s Jules Segers took bronze.

At the finish, Halgren pointed toward the American section of the crowd, shouting as fans responded with cheers.

“Best day of my life until tomorrow,” Halgren said. “I’ll repeat that until the day I die on the best day of my life.”

After the medal ceremony, Halgren embraced teammates while wearing the American flag draped across his back.

Behind Halgren, several Americans completed their runs despite challenging conditions.

Jesse Keefe finished 14th after overcoming adversity earlier in the day when a prosthetic issue required a last-minute repair before the race.

Spencer Wood recovered from several off-balance moments to stay on course, while Tyler McKenzie recorded his first Paralympic finish.

Andrew Haraghey’s run ended midway down the course after he couldn’t recover from his outrigger getting caught in soft snow early in the descent.

The race was briefly halted earlier when Sweden’s Aaron Lindstroem crashed after clipping a gate on a large jump near the bottom section of the course. Racing paused while officials assisted the skier from the slope before competition resumed.

“First and foremost, Aaron Lindstroem is our friend,” Spencer Wood said. “He’s one of our toughest competitors. He’s a champion of sport, and to see him go down, that was just really sad. I hope he’s okay. I really like the guy.”

Men’s Super-G – Sitting

Andrew Kurka secured Team USA’s second medal of the day with bronze in the sitting race.

Kurka skied a tactical run emphasizing control through the course’s terrain-heavy sections. He briefly held the lead among the early finishers before Norway’s Jesper Pedersen and eventual winner Jeroen Kampschreur overtook the time.

The medal marked Kurka’s first Paralympic podium since the 2018 Games.

“It feels great,” Kurka said. “After my incident in the downhill [he was disqualified for missing a gate], I knew I had to come in today and give it all I could.”

He said the jump-heavy terrain influenced his strategy.

“With there being so many airs in it, I knew I had to back it off just a little bit.”

Ravi Drugan finished 13th, Robert Enigil placed 14th, Matthew Brewer finished 16th and Blake Eaton crossed the line in 20th.

With two medals and finishes across the roster, the Super-G added another strong result for the Americans as the Paralympic alpine program continued in Cortina.