Nordic In Paris: How To Watch Three American Winter Stars At The Summer Games

Oksana Masters and Aaron Pike are a Paralympic power couple that has been dubbed “Pikesana.” They’ve traveled around the globe — sometimes together as Para Nordic skiers and other times on their own to race in their respective summer sports.

Kendall Gretsch is one of their U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing teammates and a frequent training partner on the course and at the shooting range. She has also shared the medal podium with Masters plenty of times over the years as they’ve competed against each as friendly rivals.

Over the next few weeks, Masters, Pike and Gretsch won’t have to worry about anything related to cross-country skiing or the biathlon. All three sit skiers have quickly transitioned since the end of the skiing season in March from snow to pavement as each one prepares to compete at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, which starts today.

Masters and Gretsch are among only a handful of American athletes who have won a gold medal at the Summer and Winter Paralympics. In Paris, they’ll each look to defend the gold medals they won three years ago in Tokyo — Gretsch in the triathlon and Masters as a cyclist in the road time trial and the road race events

Pike, meanwhile, is hoping to earn his first Paralympic medal. He’s a seven-time Paralympian like Masters, whom he got engaged to following the Tokyo Paralympics held in 2021, and he’ll have several opportunities to medal while competing in track field in Paris.

“I am definitely hoping to be able to watch Kendall, Pike and Oksana all race in Paris. I am so excited for them,” said two-time Paralympian Dani Aravich, who’s also a member of the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing national team. She’ll serve as a content creator for Team USA at the Paralympics. “I know how hard they have worked, and (I) may even showcase an original shirt design with all their faces on it at their races.”

For fans looking to watch the three, NBCUniversal has 140 hours of TV coverage planned between NBC, USA Network and CNBC, as well as an unprecedented 1,500 hours of live streaming on Peacock. Additionally, coverage will be streamed over NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app.

Masters Regains Her Dominance

Masters, who moved to Louisville, Kentucky, after being adopted from Ukraine, is the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian of all time. She has won 17 Paralympic medals in Nordic skiing, cycling and rowing, including seven golds.

Like Pike, Masters, 35, has qualified for every Summer and Winter Paralympics since 2012. She, however, had to deal with adversity in the leadup to the Paris Paralympics after she sustained a severe injury to her left hand.

Masters needed three surgeries to repair her hand and was forced to miss the entire 2023 Nordic season. She admitted on Instagram that she was “devasted” and “heartbroken” to be unable to race while recovering.

Now healthy, Masters has worked her way back into shape and has regained her dominant form in both Nordic skiing and cycling. She showed at the 2023 UCI Para-cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, that she should again be considered among the favorites in Paris. Masters won the road race H5 in a photo finish.

Watch Live: Women’s road time trial H4-5, Wednesday Sept. 4, 2 p.m. ET

Watch Live: Women’s road race H5, Thursday Sept. 5, 3:30 a.m. ET

Pike Looks To Earn First Paralympic Medal

Masters will be cheering for Pike when he competes as a wheelchair racer in Paris. The Park Rapids, Minnesota, native has come close on several occasions to earning his first Paralympic medal, and he’s coming off a breakthrough year in 2023.

After more than a decade of competing in summer and winter sports, Pike earned the first world title of his career at the 2023 Para Nordic world championships in Östersund, Sweden.

He believed he was in fourth place heading into the final lap of the men’s sitting 12.5-kilometer biathlon and felt he needed to pick up the pace. He was mistaken, though, and pulled away down the stretch to earn the gold medal that had eluded him for so long.

Two days later, Pike earned his second world championship after he helped the Americans win the mixed 4x2.5-kilometer relay. He also took home a pair of silver medals from Östersund.

“When they are done handing out the medals to each athlete and they play the national anthem, you kind of have flashes of all the people that have had my back and supported me,” Pike told USParaNordic.org at the time. “I have been fortunate to have so many people play a part in my development as an athlete.”

Pike, who turned 38 on May 4, followed up his first career world title with a strong showing at the 2023 New York City Marathon. His performance was good enough to qualify for the Paris Paralympics.

Watch Live: Men’s marathon, Sunday Sept. 8, 2 a.m. ET

Gretsch Shows Her Versatility With The Triathlon

Gretsch and Masters regularly go back and forth for the top spot on the medal podium during the skiing season, and Gretsch dominated the field while Masters was sidelined with her hand injury.

The two multi-sport stars won’t have worry about racing against each other in Paris. Gretsch, 32, has shown over the years that she can seamlessly transition from skiing to the triathlon as soon as the snow on the ground melts and the summer arrives.

Three years ago in Tokyo, the Downers Grove, Illinois, native won the first women’s triathlon wheelchair race in Paralympic history in dramatic fashion. She made a charge down the stretch to beat Australia’s Lauren Parker, a former world champion, by one second.

Gretsch then turned around six months later and earned three medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics, including a gold in the biathlon. She has won four golds and six total medals at three Paralympics.

Gretsch will look to add to her medal count in Paris. She solidified her place among the favorites in the triathlon after she earned a silver medal at the season-ending 2023 paratriathlon world championships. A three-time world champion from 2014 to 2016, she’s coming off a win in the latest World Triathlon Para Series in June in Montreal.

Watch Live: Women’s paratriathlon PTWC, Sunday Sept. 2, 2:25 a.m. ET

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.