Roundup: Team USA Skiers Shined in Milano Cortina

The U.S. Para Nordic skier highlighted the energy of the Games, from the intensity on course to the experience of representing Team USA on the world stage. His posts gave followers a personal glimpse into what it meant to compete at his first Paralympics, reflecting on both the challenges and the excitement of the moment. “Never felt so many emotions at once,” he writes.

Aaron Pike wrapped up his eighth consecutive Paralympics, including summer and winter, when he raced in cross-country skiing and biathlon earlier this month at the Winter Games in Milano Cortina. 

The multi-sport star could make it nine in a row if he qualifies for the Paralympic Games Los Angeles 2028 in track and field. 

It remains to be seen if Pike, 39, will continue on for another Winter Paralympics. 

The Park Rapids, Minnesota, native said in an Instagram posted shared by Xfinity that it’s always exciting to qualify for the Paralympics regardless of how many he has been to over the past two decades. 

“It was incredibly special the first time and then knowing that this could be like the last Winter Games I go to, it’s really incredibly kind of special in its own way,” Pike told Xfinity.

But Pike, who competes as a sit skier, isn’t ready to announce his retirement from the sport just yet. 

“People always say that you know when you’re done. I haven’t felt that yet,” Pike told Xfinity.  
“So, it’s one of those things where maybe after this Games, I’ll have a better feeling of where I’m at.” 

Team USA’s official Instagram account shared a pair of photos of Pike, one from when he competed in his first Paralympics at the 2012 London Games next to a more recent photo of him from this year. The side-by-side pictures show how his appearance has changed over the past 14 years, most notably his beard.

Eleven-time Paralympic medalist Kendall Gretsch was given the honor as serving as one of Team USA’s two flag bearers during the Closing Ceremony of the Cortina Milano Winter Paralympics on March 15. 

Competing in her third Winter Paralympics, Gretsch added to her medal count by winning a gold, a silver and a pair of bronzes in Italy. The multi-sport star, who competes in the triathlon during the summer, was one of the most decorated American athletes in Italy. 

As a final honor, members of the U.S. Paralympics team voted for Gretsch, a native of Downers Grove, Illinois, to serve as a flag bearer alongside Para Alpine skier Andrew Kurka. 

In addition to being one of the world’s top sit skiers and paratriathletes, Gretsch is helping to support female athletes with disabilities through her nonprofit foundation, Sisters in Sports, which she co-founded with four-time Paralympian Danelle Umstead and 24-time Paralympic medalist Oksana Masters, Gretsch’s friend and fellow sit skier. 

USParaNordic.org highlighted the impact that Gretsch and Masters have made through their work with Sisters in Sports in a feature about the nonprofit. 

“I think it’s really important to me to be able to give back, being a part of sport now for a number of years,” Gretsch said. “I think our goal is to show people the power of sport, especially women and girls with disabilities, but also to be able to build a community of people.” 

Team USA ranked second among all countries in Milano Cortina with its totals of 13 gold medals and 24 total medals. More than half of those medals came in the Nordic disciplines, with U.S. skiers winning 11 medals in cross-country skiing and four more in biathlon. Ten of those 15 medals were gold. 

Jake Adicoff, a visually impaired skier, left Italy with four gold medals, including three in individual events. Adicoff, who became the first out gay man to win an individual Winter Paralympic gold medal, spoke with Outsports ahead of the Games. 

“Going to the Paralympics, being a gay athlete there, showing that it’s possible to reach this upper echelon of sport as an out athlete and as a Para athlete, that’s super important to me,” he said. 

The site covered his progress throughout the Games as well.

Masters also contributed five medals, including four golds, to extend her status as Team USA’s most decorated Winter Paralympian. She talked with NPR about her perseverance and the hardships she had to overcome just to get to Milano Cortina. 

“I might not be my best, but I will have the will to not give up and to keep fighting — for my village, for little Oksana — and do what I can do,” Masters said. “Because that's what I’ve been doing my whole entire life.”

Standing skier Sydney Peterson joined Gretsch in winning four medals. Peterson’s haul included three gold medals, adding to the full set — gold, silver and bronze — that she won in her 2022 Paralympic debut, when she only learned she had qualified at the last minute. 

The Lake Elmo, Minnesota, native shared with NPR her story of balancing her sports career with her burgeoning career as a neuroscientist.

Rounding out the U.S. medalists was sit skier Joshua Sweeney, who teamed with Adicoff, Masters and Peterson in the winning mixed cross-country relay. The medal was Sweeney’s second over three Paralympics. He won his first gold in 2014 in sled hockey; after taking up Nordic, he made his Paralympic debut in that event in 2022. 

The Idaho native brought fans along for the journey in Italy via his Instagram, including this video documenting the Team USA Welcome Experience that greeted athletes upon their arrival at the Games. 

Standing skier Dani Aravich and sit skiers Michael Kneeland and Nicole Zaino live year-round in Bozeman, Montana, where U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing is based. 

The three athletes also train together in the offseason at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center in Bozeman. To show their support, Crosscut staff members held a Winter Paralympics watch party on March 10 and cheered for Aravich, Kneeland and Zaino as they competed on the world’s largest stage.

“It just gives you kind of goosebumps to see athletes that you’ve talked to, that you’ve seen train here and seen compete here just giving that kind of effort is really cool to witness,” said Laurie Stahle, Crosscut’s senior director of communications who attended the watch party. “And people were really excited about it.” 

This was Aravich’s third time competing at the Paralympics after qualifying as a sprinter at the 2020 Tokyo Games and as a standing skier at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics and again at Milano Cortina. Kneeland and Zaino made their Paralympic debuts at Milano Cortina. 

Aravich’s experience perhaps helped her score a special treat while staying in the Paralympic Village. She shared on Instagram that she managed to get tiramisu — which wasn’t offered to every Paralympian — thanks to forming a good connection with a Village staff member. 

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic 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.