Kendall Gretsch skis and shoots her way to bronze in individual biathlon at Milano Cortina 2026

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by USOPC

PREDAZZO, Italy – On the second day of competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games, Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Illinois) added another medal to her growing Paralympic resume, claiming bronze in the women’s sitting individual biathlon at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.


Gretsch delivered a strong performance on the course and at the range, hitting 19 of 20 targets across four shooting stages, with her lone miss coming during the final visit to the range. She crossed the finish line with a time of 38:36.1 to secure the podium spot.


“That was a really tough race that came down to the last shooting but I'm really happy with it,” said Gretsch. “As the race goes, you're definitely building more pressure to keep shooting clean and also keep going as fast as you can because you know that the race is really close, but it’s definitely a good start for the races and hopefully I can just keep building on this.”


The result brings Gretsch’s Paralympic career medal total to nine, continuing her consistent success across both the winter and summer Paralympic Games.


Additional finishes in the women’s sitting class include Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) who placed fourth and Erin Martin (Seattle, Washington) who finished 10th. In the men’s sitting class, Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minnesota) placed fourth and Josh Sweeney (Glendale, Arizona) finished fifth, while Dani Aravich (Boise, Idaho) finished sixth in the women’s standing class.


Follow and watch U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing competition from Milano Cortina 2026 on NBCUniversal, which will showcase more than 270 hours of total programming across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, and NBC Sports Digital platforms, along with a record number of primetime hours on NBC. Follow U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing on Instagram, Facebook and X for daily updates from Milano Cortina.


For photo and media requests, please contact Olivia Truby at Olivia.Truby@usopc.org.


Team USA Results

Kendall Gretsch, bronze, women’s sitting individual biathlon

Oksana Masters, fourth, women’s sitting individual biathlon

Aaron Pike, fourth, men’s sitting individual biathlon

Josh Sweeney, fifth, men’s sitting individual biathlon

Dani Aravich, sixth, women’s standing individual biathlon

Erin Martin, 10th, women’s sitting individual biathlon