Masters, Bagiian and Adicoff follow Sprint triumphs with 10km Interval Start golds

Oksana Masters (USA) backed up her successful Paralympic Sprint Sitting title defence on Tuesday with gold in the 10km Interval Start in Val di Fiemme.

Yunji Kim was ahead in the early stages, but Masters came on strong in the middle of the race. Any chance the Korean teenager had of gold evaporated with a fall near the end of her third 2.5km lap, but she was able to get going again reasonably quickly and take silver. 

The gap was 20 seconds in the end as Masters claimed her third title of the Games after her Para Biathlon Sprint success on Day 1. Kendall Gretsch made it gold and bronze for USA.

 “I’m feeling just so much pure joy and shock,” revealed Masters. “I did not expect it at all because in the first half of the race, I was behind and really didn’t know if I could close that gap.

"My team was telling me my splits at every single place they could, and was literally saying, ’How bad do you want it?’ I wanted to dig deep to get this for Team USA.”

With two Cross-Country golds and one in Biathlon, Masters has now equalled her tally of three from Beijing 2022. “The competitor in me wants to keep pushing, see how many golds can I get from one Games. But at the same time, I am so excited to see the sport growing.

"Younger athletes are coming up, they’re helping me to get better, and I’m so excited to share this podium with my teammate. Hopefully we can continue to go the same again." 

Gretsch said, “Honestly, I’m so excited about this. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get a Cross-Country medal this week so super-excited and really proud of this performance. It’s an awesome day for our team so it’s great to share the medal with the rest of the team.”

Anastasiia Bagiian (RUS) looks like she is going to be hard to stop this week after another utterly dominant display in the Women’s 10km Classic Vision Impaired (VI). The 24-year-old, guided by Sergei Siniakin, was 27 seconds ahead after the first of four laps and kept pulling further clear of the field.

Bagiian ended up winning by well over two minutes from Simona Bubenickova (CZE; guide David Srutek). This was the 17-year-old’s second medal of the Games after her Biathlon Individual silver on Sunday. Leonie Maria Walter (GER; Christian Krasman) took the bronze.

“It was super, super hard conditions,” said Bubenickova. “The snow was super wet and super slow, but everyone had the same conditions. There was nothing bad, but the other competitor was better and stronger. I'm lucky. Thanks to everybody, thanks to the fans and all of you."

Jake Adicoff (USA) produced a similarly emphatic performance to follow Bagiian in completing the Sprint-10km VI double. Adicoff, guided by Reid Goble, was almost 30 seconds clear after the first lap, and kept extending his lead to a winning margin of one minute 48 seconds.

Shuang Yu (CHN; Jincai Shang) tried to go with Adicoff’s early pace but faded badly and fell out of the medals. Inkki Inola (FIN; Reetu Inkila) surged home on the final lap to move up from fifth to second, with Zebastian Modin (SWE; Emil Talsi) claiming his second bronze of the Games.

"We got a split in the last lap that we were a minute or something up,” said Adicoff. “One of the coaches said, ’Relax’, and then he also said, ’Rip them to pieces’, so we were kind of confused! The whole strategy with the race was to try and get a comfortable gap in the first two laps and then stay upright for the last two, and that’s what we did.

“It was definitely hard today. I was tired after yesterday, but I just tried to have some fun and stay in it. Hard conditions, but I’m just so happy to get the win.”

Peterson, Tabouret and Golubkov break new ground

Adicoff's win was a third on the day for the United States after Sydney Peterson had won a thrilling duel with Vilde Nilsen (NOR) in the 10km Classic Standing. The 24-year-old took a lead of over 10 seconds into the final 2.5km circuit, but Tuesday’s Sprint gold medalist charged home to make it close in the end.

Peterson slowed in the closing stages, but eventually won by 2.7 seconds to add a first individual Paralympic title to her Mixed Relay gold from Beijing. Nilsen was first to congratulate her rival at the finish with Brittany Hudak (CAN) taking bronze.

“I went out really hard, because I knew it was going to take everything I had to win today,” said Peterson. About halfway, the splits turned the other way and Vilde started to close the gap on me. She’s such a strong skier, so I just tried to hold on and luckily it was enough.

"She’s pushed me so much. She’s an amazing athlete but, more importantly, she’s a very, very good person. She has amazing character and she works extremely hard, and is a very friendly competitor. I love having the opportunity to race against her."

Karl Tabouret (FRA) bounced back from disappointment in the Sprint to take the Men’s 10km Classic Standing in great style. The 22-year-old failed to make the final on Tuesday, but led from start to finish on this occasion. He was exhaused afterwards, and had to be helped by volunteers after the line.

Tabouret was nearly 30 seconds clear of Sprint champion Raman Svirydzenka (BLR) with Mark Arendz (CAN) retaking Tabouret in the closing stages on his way to bronze.

“I was disappointed with the result yesterday,” admitted Tabouret. “The sprint is my speciality and I’m a world champion there so I really wanted to give it all there. Then I spoke to my team and to Benjamin Daviet, who won the bronze yesterday, and they could more or less talk me into my best strategy to adopt for the course in today’s race. Today, I gave it all. For the team, but also for my family who have been supporting me.

“I’m extremely happy to be part of this team. It’s a team that stands very united. So we always want to give it all, not just for ourselves but for the whole team. It is like a second family."

Ivan Golubkov (RUS) showed he will be a force for the rest of these Games with victory in the Men’s 10km Interval Start Classic Sitting. The 30-year-old, who won three individual titles at the 2022 World Championships, was ahead on the clock for the whole race and finished 17.6 seconds clear of the pack.

Defending champion Zhongwu Mao took silver, just ahead of Chinese teammate Peng Zheng who won silver at Beijing 2022. Home favourite Giuseppe Romele was just out of the medals in fourth with Cristian Westemaier Ribera (BRA) a close fifth. Less than 30 seconds separated the top five home.

The athletes now have a couple of days off before Saturday’s Mixed and Open Relays, followed by the 20km Interval Start Free on Sunday.