The Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games will take place in China from 4 to 13 March. As has been the tradition for thirty years, after the Winter Olympics, the Paralympics arrive, which will be held in the same locations as the Games a few weeks ago.
There will be 78 medal-giving events, divided into six sports. 39 are events for male athletes, 35 are for women and four are mixed events. Speaking of athletes, let’s find out the ten champions not to be missed in this edition of the Paralympic Games. Ten sports who have already won multiple medals in previous editions, whose goal is to increase their palmares and enter more and more into the history of Paralympic sport.
Rico Roman (USA) – Hockey
Let’s start with Rico Roman, an ice hockey legend. Playing as a forward for Team USA, he won gold with his national team at both the PyeongChang 2018 and Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics. Therefore, as reigning champions, the Americans are looking to the highly experienced 40-year-old to take them. even a fourth consecutive gold in hockey, as they are undefeated since Vancouver 2010.
One of the most celebrated players of the Paralympic Winter Games, Roman is a war veteran. He was serving in the United States Army in Iraq when injuries from an explosion caused his left leg to be amputated above the knee in 2007. He then started playing sledge hockey the following year and won the first gold for Team USA at the world championship level in 2012. Subsequently, the team, with Roman as the forward, won four more medals, including gold in 2021 at the world level.
Seong-Hwan Jung (South Korea) – Hockey
If there’s one ice hockey player who can overshadow Roman at the Games, it’s Seong-Hwan Jung. Nicknamed the “Messi” of ice, he is an icon in his home country and helped his team win a bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympics. He was also the top scorer of his for four consecutive world championships. In many ways he is considered the strongest player of the moment, certainly the fastest.
Jung is the main reason for the attention that ice hockey has garnered in South Korea. Curious that the 35-year-old retired after winning the medal at the 2018 Games to devote himself to cross-country skiing, but was back on the ice right away. within a few months. It is unlikely that with the national team he can worry about the excessive power of the USA in hockey, but the medal is absolutely within reach.
Henrieta FarkaÅ¡ová and Natalia Subrtova (Slovakia) – Sci alpino
After two men we are talking about a woman, or rather two, who rightly must be mentioned together. Henrieta Farkašová is one of the athletes, man or woman does not change, most awarded ever at the most awarded Winter Paralympic Games of all time. Her palmares is made up of 12 medals in alpine skiing, nine of which are gold, not counting the dozens of world medals. It should be noted that she has won Olympic medals in all five Alpine specialties.
Who is the second woman? It is her guide. Farkašová is a visually impaired athlete and has always been skiing at high levels with Natália Šubrtová, also from Slovakia and therefore the winner of the same titles. The two arrive in Beijing in great shape and ready to triumph on several occasions. Four golds and one silver arrived in Pyeongchang. We will see what will happen in this edition.
Oksana Masters (USA) – Nordic skiing
Of the many prominent Paralympic athletes, Oksana’s story is perhaps the most famous. Masters was born near Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1989. Her biological mother is believed to have been affected by the nuclear disaster in 1986. So when she was born, Oksana had only one kidney, no thumbs, 12 toes, no shins, no legs. different sizes and some parts of the stomach. She was therefore not an easy childhood and at 14 she had to undergo the amputation of both legs below the knee. In 1997 she was adopted by an American family who took her to the US and made her American.
Today Oksana Masters is an icon, having represented the United States in multiple sports both in the Summer Paralympics (canoeing and cycling, where she won three medals, two of which gold) and in the Winter Paralympics. The loot in winter features two golds, three silvers and two bronzes won in cross-country skiing and biathlon in the last two editions of the Games, five of these medals obtained in Pyeongchang. She too face to keep in mind in Beijing.
Mike Schultz (USA) – Snowboard
The Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics will be the second Paralympic Games for the American snowboarder who won gold and silver four years ago. Schultz had an accident during a snowmobile race (a competition with a kind of snowmobile) in 2008, which caused his left leg to be amputated above the knee. Thanks to a prosthesis he started competing in Paralympic snowboarding with great results. The goal for Beijing is to double, both in the cross and in the banked.
Marie Bochet (France) – Alpine skiing
Another legend in the world of Paralympic Alpine skiing. We are talking about Marie Bochet, capable of winning eight Olympic golds equally divided between Sochi and Pyeongchang. Counting also the world medals, the French athlete won thirty golds as proof of his absolute domination in alpine skiing. Bochet made his 2010 Paralympics debut in Vancouver at the age of 15. She achieved stardom four years later by triumphing in four disciplines in the standing category. Her goal for Beijing is to replenish her loot with gold medals.
Benjamin Daviet (France) – Nordic skiing
Let’s stay in France and talk about Benjamin Daviet, cross-country skier and Paralympic biathlete. He was 17 when his condyle, part of the femur, broke. In the following operation, a staph deprived him of the use of his left knee, which simply no longer flexes. So he began his career in winter sports, alternating between cross-country and biathlon. In Sochi she took home the bronze in the relay, while in Korea she got two golds and one silver in the biathlon and one gold and one silver in the bottom.
Kendall Gretsch (USA) – Nordic skiing
Another phenomenon of American Paralympic sport. We are talking about Kendall Gretsch, an American girl born in 1992 with a spinal problem. You have won two Olympic golds in Pyeongchang, one in the biathlon spint, the other in the 12km cross-country skiing. In these four years, however, she has been busy and she has also taken gold in the summer Paralympics in Tokyo in the triathon, becoming the third American woman to succeed in winning at least one Paralympic title in both the winter and summer Games.
Giacomo Bertagnolli (Italy) – Alpine skiing
Lastly, we cannot fail to mention the Italian flag bearer, the leader of our delegation of 32 athletes. Giacomo Bertagnolli is a 23-year-old boy, capable of winning four medals in Pyeongchang, two of which gold in alpine skiing, precisely in giant and slalom. Visually impaired since birth due to optic nerve atrophy, he has also won 6 world titles in his career. In Beijing he reaches us in top form, he is our spearhead at these Games.