The American Oksana Masters, the Chinese dominance of the medal table, the Aigner brothers and the gold medal of the United States hockey team are the proper names of these Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games that have come to an end, after ten days of competition, and that will go down in the history of international Paralympism.
Oksana Masters, 36, has left her golden mark on the mountain of Cortina d’Ampezzo with four golds and his final bronze in the 20km cross-country ski test. On Saturday he won the 4×2.5 km mixed team relay, held in Tesero, his last gold medal, the fourteenth of his career.
The American of Ukrainian origin has not missed a Paralympic event, between the Summer and Winter Games, since London 2012, her Olympic debut. Since then, it has added 24 medals, 14 gold, seven silver and three bronzein eight consecutive Paralympic participations.
Rowing, cycling and cross-country skiingnothing can resist the American of Ukrainian origin. His best performance to date was in the last Winter Games of Beijing, where he achieved a historical record of seven medals in the same Paralympic event.
But Oksana’s story has not been forged only by medals. Born in 1989, less than 300 km from Chernobyl, she was affected by radiation, which caused several malformations in both legs, in a complicated story that began with her parents leaving her in a Ukrainian orphanage due to their lack of resources. After several years of mistreatment and abuse, as she herself has related, she was fortunate to be adopted by her mother, an American teacher who took her to the country she represents and where she has forged her story of improvement.
China, the superpower of the medal table
China has been, without a doubt, the country that has dominated the Milano Cortina Paralympic Games from start to finish. The Asian delegation has closed its participation as first in the medal table with nothing more and nothing less than 44 medals: 15 gold, 13 silver and 16 bronze.
More than half of their golden successes have been achieved in the parabiathlon, where they have managed to have the Chinese anthem played at the top of the drawer up to eight times. They have also won five silvers and two bronzes in this discipline, raising their time in this sport to 15 metals, where they have been the kings.
The Chinese cross-country skiers once again demonstrated their power in the open relay, winning against Germany and Norway, and leaving Ukraine, until then the current champion, more than 34 seconds behind in their last gold medal in the biathlon.
Cross-country has been the second discipline with the most medals, twelve: three gold, four silver and five bronze. The third event in the Chinese ranking was alpine skiing, with seven medals: one gold, one silver and five bronzes.
The Chinese delegation has also had a prominent role in snowboarding, with six medals: two gold, two silver and two bronze. They have also achieved gold and silver in wheelchair curling, where they have stood out in the mixed doubles with the pair formed by Meng Wang and Jinqiao Yangfamous for his shouts at the stones with each throw.
China, with its 15 gold medals, out of a total of 42, has once again topped the Paralympic Games medal table, as it did four years ago, when it hosted Beijing 2022. Then they achieved 61 metals: 18 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze.
The Aigner brothers, Austria’s golden couple
When China and Oksana Masters take the podiums in Val di Fiemme, the star family of the Paralympic Games in alpine skiing will undoubtedly be the Aigner siblings, Veronika and Johannes. Among the two have added nine of the 13 medals and they have hoarded all the gold, seven.
It’s simple, so far, the seven titles won by Austria have been the work of Veronika Aigner, 23 years oldy his little brother Johanneswho both compete in the visual impairment category in alpine skiing.
On Saturday, Veronika Aigner won for the fourth time, with more than four seconds ahead of her compatriot Elina Stary in the slalom, a title that eluded Johannes on Sunday in the men’s category, so he had to settle for the ‘chocolate’ medal.
“I don’t know what our secret is, because our parents don’t know how to ski,” he told the press, “but it’s been a lot of work since we were little.”
The United States achieves its fifth consecutive gold
The United States has achieved its fifth consecutive ice hockey title, and the sixth in its history, by beating Canada (6-2) on the last day of the Milan Cortina Paralympic Games.
The United States and Canada teams met for the third consecutive time in the Paralympic ice hockey final and the result was the same as the previous times.
The great protagonist of United States was Declan Farmerwho was born bilaterally amputated and is the big star of the team. He was chosen best player in the last World Cup and in his record, with this one from Italy, they look already four Paralympic golds, as well as the honor of being the all-time top scorer of the Games.
The United States leaves these Games with a goal balance of 46 to 5a figure that demonstrates the superiority it has had throughout the tournament.
The United States and Canada also recently played the final of the Olympic Games and the Americans won with a goal in overtime.
