Roundup: Kendall Gretsch Nominated For Sportswoman of the Year
by Alex Abrams
Every other week we scour the web for the latest going on in the world of U.S. Para Nordic skiing. Here’s what you missed!
Kendall Gretsch Nominated For Sportswoman of the Year
Kendall Gretsch could receive another award as a result of her dominant performance during this past Para Nordic skiing season.
The Women’s Sports Foundation named Gretsch, a six-time Paralympic medalist, as a finalist for its Sportswoman of the Year award. Fan voting for the award closed August 8.
Gretsch is one of 10 athletes nominated in the category. She’s joined by fellow Americans Katie Ledecky (swimming), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (track and field), Carissa Moore (surfing), Claressa Shields (boxing) and Mikaela Shiffrin (alpine skiing).
In January, Gretsch medaled in all seven events she competed in over seven days at the Para Nordic world championships in Östersund, Sweden. She won six world titles, including in the biathlon sprint, the middle-distance biathlon race and the long-distance biathlon race.
Gretsch is a two-sport star who has won a Paralympic gold medal in both Nordic skiing and the triathlon. She’s one of only a few Americans who has earned a gold at both the Summer and Winter Paralympics.
Athletes Take Part In Development Camp
U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing recently hosted a development camp for athletes under age 23 in Lake Placid, New York.
Athletes practiced their roller skiing and rifle shooting for the biathlon during the camp at Mount Van Hoevenberg, one of the sites of the Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1980.
“Had a successful U-23 Development Camp in Lake Placid! Huge thanks to @mt.vanhoevenberg and Lake Placid for hosting us!”
Liza Corso, a distance runner who earned a silver medal in the women’s 1,500-meter race at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, was among the athletes who participated in the camp. She’s coming off winning a silver in the 1,500 at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.
The New York Ski Educational Foundation shared on Instagram photographs and a short video from the development camp at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
“First, the biathletes worked on some shooting drills together, then we set up an agility course that all the athletes skied through together while testing and improving their roller ski skills,” New York Ski Educational Foundation wrote on Instagram. “We love partnering up with teams that are visiting the Adirondacks while working together to become better skiers.”
Erin Martin Competes In Bike Race
Paralympian Erin Martin said one of her goals this year is to find more ways to prepare for a race, even when it’s not the Nordic skiing season.
Martin got in some racing when she competed in the 2023 Tour de Whatcom, a bike race through Bellingham, Washington, on July 22. She wrote on Instagram that she treated the race as a “practice ride.”
“Being new to bike events and racing, it was quite humbling and great practice racing outside of my comfort zone,” Martin wrote. “I was incredibly lucky to participate in an event where the organizers and participants were so welcoming to a hand cyclist!”
Martin, a native of Seattle, made her Paralympic debut as a sit skier at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics.
Alex Abrams has written about Olympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordic.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.