Biathlon

Oksana Masters

Sports:  Cycling, Cross-Country Skiing (sitting), Biathlon
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Currently Resides: Champaign, Illinois / Winter Training Home: Bozeman, Montana
Birthdate: June 19, 1989
Social Media: Twitter: @OksanaMasters; Instagram: @OksanaMasters; Facebook: OksanaMastersUSA
Toyota Vehicle: Toyota Sienna
Paralympic History: 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022

Competition Highlights

  • Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, gold (sprint biathlon, individual biathlon, mixed relay cross-country), silver (middle-distance biathlon, long-distance cross-country, sprint cross-country, middle-distance cross-country) 
  • 2021 UCI ParaCycling World Cup, 1 gold, 1 silver 
  • 2021 World Cup Para Nordic Skiing, 3x gold (sitting cross country) and 3x gold (sitting biathlon): earned her 50th World Cup ParaNordic Gold Medal of her career in Slovenia in 2021 
  • Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, gold (time trial, road race) 
  • Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, gold (1.1km cross-country and 5km cross-country), silver (6km biathlon and 12.5km biathlon), bronze (12km cross-country) 
  • 2019 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships, gold (middle-distance biathlon, middle-distance cross-country, cross-country sprint, biathlon sprint, long-distance cross-country), silver (individual biathlon) 
  • 2019 & 2021 U.S. Para-Cycling Road National Championships, first (road race, time trial) 
  • 2019 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup, silver (road race, time trial) 
  • Paralympic Games Rio 2016, 4th (cycling – road race), 5th (cycling – time trial) 
  • Paralympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, silver (12km cross-country), bronze (5km cross-country) 
  • Paralympic Games London 2012, bronze (rowing – trunk and arms mixed double sculls) 

About Oksana Masters

Born in the Ukraine, Oksana Masters came to the United States at seven years old after being adopted by her mother, Gay Masters, whom she credits as her personal hero. After suffering from her disability as a newborn as a result of birth defects from radiation poisoning from the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster, Masters was fitted with her first prosthetic leg above the knee at nine years old. Four years later, she was fitted with her second prosthetic leg above the knee. 

In advance of the Paralympic Games London 2012, Masters participated in the 2012 ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue and, later that year, was named U.S. Rowing’s Female Athlete of the Year. After winning five medals at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Masters was selected as the Team USA flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony and later named the Team USA Award Female Athlete of the Winter Paralympic Games. She followed that up by being named the Team USA Female Athlete of the Year with a Disability the following year. She was also the first winter Paralympian to win the Women’s Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year award. Masters has been nominated for an ESPY award seven times (2014-19, 2021) in the “Best Female Athlete with a Disability” category. She was named the 2020 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and a nominee for the 2022 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.  

Masters became the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian of all time following her record seven medal performance at the Olympic Winter Games 2022. She currently has 14 career Winter Paralympic medals, including five gold medals in the Winter Games.   

When not training or competing, Masters enjoys working out, rowing, camping, shopping, road trips, swimming, being outdoors in the mountains and singing in the car. She also loves coffee, with her favorite drink being the Americano, and hopes to open her own coffee shop one day. Today, Masters sits on the board of directors of Kindness Wins Foundation and is on the athlete advisory panel of the Women’s Sports Foundation. Each off-season, she lends her time to Ski TAM / Adaptive Spirit in Vail, CO that acts as a fundraiser for the adaptive ski & snowboard community. She additionally is a student at DeVry University on track for graduation in 2023. On behalf of Toyota, Masters spoke at the United Nations at the Ideagen Global Summit in September of 2018. 

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