The 2026 Winter Paralympics opened Friday, marking the Games’ 50th anniversary. Team USA sent 72 athletes to compete across six sports, with 20 women set to represent the US in Milan — including the most decorated Winter Paralympian in US history.
This year, Team USA athletes will feature across women’s para alpine skiing, para cross-country skiing, para biathlon, and para snowboard. Spanning three generations of Paralympic competition, US women’s sports veterans like Oksana Masters will compete alongside first-time competitors like Audrey Crowley.
Here are five US women’s sports athletes to watch at the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milano-Cortina.
Oksana Masters, Para Cross-Country Skiing and Para Biathlon
Masters holds 19 Paralympic medals total — 14 from the Winter Games and five from the Summer Games. The 36-year-old won seven medals across seven events at Beijing 2022, becoming the first US athlete to achieve the feat.
Born in Ukraine and adopted into a US family, Masters had both legs amputated before the age of 14. She later began her international career with para rowing at London 2012, before transitioning to winter sports at Sochi 2014.
A recent bone infection subsequently sidelined her entire 2024/25 season, returning weeks before the 2026 Games. Despite the setbacks, she dominated the 2025/26 World Cup circuit. She finished no lower than second in any individual cross-country event and won five of her last seven biathlon races. She later claimed the overall FIS Para Cross-Country World Cup title and secured the Big Crystal Globe.
Masters’s winter medals include three cross-country and two biathlon golds, while her summer medals include four cycling golds and one rowing bronze.
How to Watch Oksana Masters at the 2026 Winter Paralympics
Masters will launch her 2026 Paralympic campaign with para biathlon on Saturday, March 7th, before competing in para cross-country skiing on March 10th. All events will be broadcast live on Paramount+.
Kendall Gretsch, Para Biathlon and Para Cross-Country Skiing
Kendall Gretsch made history at PyeongChang 2018 when she topped the 6-kilometer biathlon podium, becoming the first US athlete to win Olympic or Paralympic biathlon gold. She went on to also take gold in the 12-kilometer cross-country race at PyeongChang.
Born with Spina Bifida, multi-season athlete later won triathlon gold at Tokyo 2020. She returned to the snow in 2022 to claim a complete medal set — gold, silver, and bronze — across Beijing’s biathlons. She enters Milano-Cortina with seven Paralympic medals under her belt.
“Whatever season I’m in, that’s what I am fully focused on,” she told the IPC ahead of the 2026 Winter Games. “It is one sport at a time and focusing on that versus trying to do everything all year long.”
This year, the 33-year-old finished second behind Masters in the 2025/26 cross-country World Cup and fourth in the biathlon World Cup. She holds 34 world championship medals across triathlon, cross-country skiing, and biathlon — including 19 gold.
How to Watch Kendall Gretsch at the 2026 Winter Paralympics
Gretsch will open her 2026 Paralympic run with para biathlon on Saturday, March 7th, before competing in para cross-country skiing on March 10th. All events will be broadcast live on Paramount+.
Brenna Huckaby, Para Snowboard
30-year-old para snowboard legend Brenna Huckaby holds three Paralympic gold medals and one bronze. After losing her leg to bone cancer at 14, Huckaby discovered snowboarding and quickly excelled in the sport.
Huckaby won two golds at PyeongChang 2018. However, the IPC excluded the LL-1 class from 2022’s snowboard events, effectively banning Huckaby and other athletes with severe lower-limb disabilities from competing. While the IPC initially barred her from participating as an LL-2 athlete, the Louisiana native fought the ruling and eventually won a court injunction in Germany. Hitting the slopes in Beijing, she went on to claim gold in banked slalom and bronze in snowboard cross.
Huckaby enters the Milano-Cortina games with five world championships and two ESPY awards in addition to her Paralympic medal count.
How to Watch Brenna Huckaby at the 2026 Winter Paralympics
Huckaby kicks off her 2026 Paralympic run with para snowboard cross on Saturday, March 7th, before dropping in for para snowboard slalom on March 14th. All events will be broadcast live on Paramount+.
Audrey Crowley, Para Alpine Skiing
Born without her lower right arm, 19-year-old Paralympic debutant Audrey Crowley first gained attention for skiing as a second-grader. And last month, she reached the podium in two World Cup downhill races.
Crowley finished the 2024/25 World Cup season with two podium finishes in giant slalom. She took bronze in giant slalom and placed fifth in slalom at world championships, before officials canceled her three additional events.
“It really is that peak of ski racing for me, having that exhilaration, the jumps, the big long turns,” the Colorado native said ahead of this weekend’s Winter Games. “Everyone is just starting to arrive at the [Olympic and Paralympic] village. We’ve been trading pins, eating at the dining hall together.”
How to Watch Audrey Crowley at the 2026 Winter Paralympics
Crowley opens her 2026 Paralympic alpine skiing campaign with downhill standing on Saturday, March 7th, before kicking off Super-G standing on March 9th, giant slalom standing on March 10th, and slalom standing on March 14th. All events will be broadcast live on Paramount+.
Meg Gustafson, Para Alpine Skiing
16-year-old Minnesota native Meg Gustafson was born with a condition affecting the ligaments in her eyes, leading to limited vision. The youngest member of Team USA, Gustafson competes with her older brother Spenser as her guide.
“He’s the best brother you could imagine and an amazing skier,” Gustafson told Vail Daily in 2025. “I definitely think it brings us closer and we have a little bit of a different way of communicating than some of the other teams.”
Skiing talents extend beyond Gustafson’s brother, as their father raced alpine skiing for Boston College and taught her to ski at a young age. She finished no lower than fourth in every race she attempted leading up to the 2026 Winter Paralympics, winning seven consecutive FIS races in giant slalom, slalom, and super-G.
“As my dad tells me, I always approach every day like I am that Paralympian that I want to be,” she added. “So I just go into the mindset that I can do it.”
How to Watch Meg Gustafson at the 2026 Winter Paralympics
Gustafson will compete in all five Paralympic alpine disciplines — slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill, and super combined — starting with downhill vision impaired on March 7th. All events will be broadcast live on Paramount+.
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