ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA – On the opening day of snowboardcross competition at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, nine of 10 Team USA athletes secured qualification spots for tomorrow’s event finals.
Two-time Paralympic champion Brenna Huckaby (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and Paralympic newcomer Garrett Geros (Cartersville, Georgia) advance into the head-to-head heats as America’s top-seeded athletes, having finished second in the women’s and men’s SB-LL2 classes, respectively.
Snowboardcross qualifying heats were structured into two individual runs down the course for each competitor, with their best time counting towards seeding for finals. Monday’s finals will feature heats of four athletes battling head-to-head for a chance in the medal rounds.
Making his Paralympic debut, Geros showed poise beyond his 22 years. Sitting in fourth after his first run, Geros threw down a second run of 1:02.46 that pushed him into the world’s second-best time behind only 2018 Paralympic snowboardcross champion Matti Suur-Hamari of Finland.
Fellow men’s SB-LL2 athletes Keith Gabel (Ogden, Utah) and Zach Miller (Silverthorne, Colorado) also qualified and will head into the event finals seeded fifth and 15th, respectively. Gabel is the 2018 Paralympic silver medalist in snowboardcross, and the two-time Paralympic medalist will seek the top of the podium for the first time in his storied career. Miller, meanwhile, makes his Paralympic debut in Beijing after winning his first world championship title in January in dual banked slalom, his best event.
In a strong women’s field, Huckaby said she struggled on her first run with the speed of the course, which ran much faster today than in training due to warmer temperatures. Huckaby recorded a disqualification in the first heat after veering off course, but rebounded in a big way on her second run and will be seeded second in tomorrow’s final rounds.
Huckaby, who is classified as an SB-LL1 athlete, is competing in a higher class as a member of the women’s SB-LL2 after her classification was removed from the Paralympic Games program. Huckaby alongside competitor and friend Cecile Hernandez of France, a fellow SB-LL2 snowboarder, are sitting 1-2 in the standings after time trials.
2018 Paralympic silver medalist Brittani Coury (Durango, Colorado) had a strong showing in her Beijing debut, qualifying fifth with a best run time of 1:13.04. Coury placed sixth in snowboardcross at the Paralympic Games PyeongChang 2018 and will aim for her first snowboardcross Paralympic podium in Monday’s finals. Coury is also a registered nurse and served on the front lines for much of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In her Paralympic debut, Katy Maddry (Wasilla, Alaska) finished in the 13th position to qualify for the event finals. Her first Paralympic Games are a special one for Maddry, who was born in Guangzhou, China, and later adopted in the United States.
Two-time Paralympic medalist Mike Schultz (St. Cloud, Minnesota) also looked strong in his Beijing debut, qualifying third to lead Team USA in the men’s SB-LL1 competition. After his runs, Schultz, who recently released a memoir called “Driven to Ride,” spoke extensively about his company Biodapt, which manufactured prosthetics for 26 snowboarders from 11 countries at these Games. Schultz looks to defend his Paralympic title in snowboardcross tomorrow.
Qualifying in fifth position in the men’s SB-LL1 class was two-time Paralympic medalist Noah Elliott (St. Charles, Missouri), who took bronze in the event at PyeongChang 2018. Elliott is entering the Games after a successful 2021-22 season, having most recently become the 2021 men’s SB-LL1 dual banked slalom world champion.
Rounding out Team USA’s results, two-time Paralympic medalist Mike Minor (Frisco, Colorado) placed eighth to qualify as the lone Team USA athlete into the SB-UL snowboardcross finals. Teammate Michael Spivey (Abilene, Texas) barely missed qualifying for the 16-person finals, finishing 17th in his qualifying heats.
The first snowboard medals of Beijing 2022 will be decided tomorrow as action continues at 11:30 a.m. local/10:30 p.m. EST with snowboardcross finals. The 2022 Paralympic Winter Games will feature more than 230 hours of coverage across NBC platforms including Peacock, USA Network, the Olympic Channel, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports App. Follow U.S. Paralympics Snowboarding on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for daily updates from Beijing.
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FULL TEAM USA RESULTS
Women’s SB-LL2
Brenna Huckaby – 2nd, Q
Brittani Coury – 5th, Q
Katy Maddry – 13th, Q
Men’s SB-LL2
Garrett Geros – 2nd, Q
Keith Gabel – 5th, Q
Zach Miller – 15th, Q
Men’s SB-LL1
Mike Schultz – 3rd, Q
Noah Elliott – 5th, Q
Men’s SB-UL
Mike Minor – 8th, Q
Michael Spivey – 17th