A lot of amputee stars were in action overnight, so the Spoilers section is chock full today. Stop reading when you get to that headline if you’d rather not know results before you watch the events. Before we get to that, here are some outcomes from Monday.
MASTERS OF ALL TRADES
Oksana Masters entered these Paralympics with multiple medals (including two golds) in Nordic skiing and a bronze in rowing. Now she’s a gold medalist in handcycling after yesterday’s dominant performance in the H4-H5 time trial. We’re not sure how many athletes have medaled in three different sports, but it’s undoubtedly a short list. If anyone knows the answer to that trivia question, email us.
The men’s handcyclists fell just short of the podium, with Tom Davis coming in 5th in the H4 class and Freddie de los Santos riding to a 6th-place finish in H5.
ANOTHER ARROW TO THE HEART FOR STUTZMAN
Alas, the wait continues for archery great Matt Stutzman. He fell hard in the round of 16 yesterday, 143-137, well short of the Paralympic gold he has long sought. Adding to the pain, his score of 137 was the lowest posted by any competitor during yesterday’s marathon session of 15 matches. The other American on the range yesterday, defending gold medalist Andre Shelby, fared no better. He also exited in the round of 16, with a score of 138.
Bilateral leg amputee Emma Rose Ravish still has a shot to bring home an archery medal. She competes in women’s recurve tomorrow night beginning at 10 pm Eastern.
TONIGHT’S COMPETITION: WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Long-jumper Trenten Merrill will go for his first Paralympic medal in the men’s T64 classification. That starts tonight at 7:30 Eastern. In the men’s F46 shotput, world-record holder Josh Cinnamo will try for his first Paralympic medal beginning at 8:30 pm Eastern. Freddie de los Santos will be back on the handcycle in the H5 road race, also at 8:30 Eastern. And lots of limb-different swimmers will be in the pool for qualifying heats tonight, including Jessica Long, Morgan Stickney, Hannah Aspden, Haven Shepherd, and Natalie Sims.
SPOILERS: THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM OVERNIGHT
The highly anticipated duel between Morgan Stickney and Jessica Long lived up to its billing. The two bilateral below-knee amputees left the rest of the field far behind in the 400m freestyle (S8), finishing 1-2 in the race. Stickney edged ahead in the final 50 meters to win by a second over the legendary Long.
The US high-jump duo of Sam Grewe and Ezra Frech put on a dandy show in the wee hours this morning. Grewe won a second consecutive Paralympic gold medal with a winning height of 1.88 meters, just off his world record of 1.90. The 16-year-old Frech hung in there for eight jumps, equaling his personal best of 1.80 meters. He wound up tied for 4th, 0.3 meters off the podium. The competitors who beat him (or tied with him) are 23, 26, 29, and 33 years old, respectively. He’ll be 19 in Paris and 23 when the Games come to his hometown of Los Angeles. The future looks bright.
Another teenager, 18-year-old Mikaela Jenkins, took the gold medal in the 100m butterfly (SB10). She became the fourth American amputee swimmer to stand atop the podium during these Games (joining Long, Aspden, and Stickney) and the seventh to win a medal of any kind.
On the men’s side of the 400m freestyle (S8), Matthew Torres won his first Paralympic medal, taking bronze in a highly competitive race. The top four swimmers finished within four seconds of each other in a race that lasts four and a half minutes.
Finally, 17-year-old Sydney Barta finished a strong 4th in the women’s 200m (T64), missing bronze by 0.18 of a second. Barta is also entered in the 100m; qualifying heats are Thursday morning at about 7:45 am Eastern.