Multi-Sport Phenom Oksana Masters Captures Eighth Paralympic Gold Medal

The 35-year-old has now won 18 medals across four sports—and she has a chance to capture even more in Paris.

Apr 16, 2024; New York, New York, USA; U.S. Paralympic athlete Oksana Masters poses for a photo at the USOC Media Summit in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Mariott Marquis. / Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

One of the U.S.’s most accomplished Paralympians has triumphed again on the global stage.

Oksana Masters—a multi-sport athlete who has medaled in four different sports at the Paralympic Games—won her first gold medal of the Paris competition Wednesday. She finished first in the H4-5 women’s para-cycling time trial, besting silver medalist Chantal Haenen of the Netherlands and bronze medalist Sun Bianbian of China.

The medal was the eighth gold and 18th medal overall for the 35-year-old Masters. She previously won medals in cross country skiing, biathlon and rowing.

Masters was born in present-day Ukraine in 1989 with severe birth defects believed to be linked to the Chernobyl disaster three years prior. She was adopted by an American professor and spent much of her childhood in Louisville.

Full emotions for the queen of the time trial, H4-5 category 👑

Oksana Masters just won her second title in this discipline! Next step: the road race...

Le plein d'émotions pour la reine du contre-la-montre, catégorie H4-5 👑

Oksana Masters vient de remporter son second titre… pic.twitter.com/TxnAHEnBVo

— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) September 4, 2024

Debuting at the Paralympics in 2012, Masters won a rowing bronze medal in trunk and arms mixed double sculls. Her most successful Games by medal count was the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, where she won four cross country skiing medals and three biathlon medals.

Masters has a chance to add more hardware in Paris on Thursday, as she looks to defend her Paralympic title in the H5 para cycling race, and on Saturday, in the H1-5 mixed team relay.