United States at the 2006 Winter Paralympics explained

The United States sent 56 athletes (45 men and 11 women) to the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin, Italy, the largest delegation of any nation.^{[1] [3]} Chris Devlin-Young, a 15-year veteran of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team and four-time Paralympic medalist in alpine skiing, served as the flag bearer at the opening ceremonies. ice sledge hockey player Lonnie Hannah, a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City and the bronze medal-winning team in Turin, was the flag bearer at the closing ceremonies.

The U.S. finished fifth in the gold and seventh in the overall medal count.^[4] While the United States' total medal count was down from the 2002 Winter Paralympics because the number of disability classes in both alpine and nordic skiing were significantly reduced,^[3] there were many standout U.S. performances. Steve Cook won three medals in nordic skiing, including gold in the men's standing category of the 5K and the 10K. In alpine skiing, Laurie Stephens won three medals in the women's sitting category, including gold in the downhill and super G, while in the men's downhill, Kevin Bramble won gold in the sitting category and his teammate Chris Devlin-Young took the silver. Allison Jones and Sandy Dukat won gold and bronze, respectively, in the women's standing category of the slalom. Stephani Victor was the gold medal winner in the women's sitting slalom. The U.S. sledge hockey team was unable to repeat its gold medal from the 2002 Winter Paralympics after losing 4–2 to Norway in the semifinals, but held on to win the bronze by beating Germany 4–3.

Medalists

American athletes won seven gold, two silver, and three bronze medals at the games. Laurie Stephens and Steve Cook both won multiple medals; Stephens took two golds and a silver in alpine skiing, and Cook won two golds and a bronze in cross-country skiing. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medalists' names are in bold.

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
			Men's downhill sitting
			Women's slalom standing
			Women's downhill sitting
			Women's super-G sitting
			Women's slalom sitting
			Men's 10 km standing
			Men's 5 km standing
			Men's downhill sitting
			Women's giant slalom sitting
			Women's slalom standing
			Men's 20 km standing
	United States national ice sledge hockey team		Men's team

Alpine skiing

See main article: Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Paralympics.

The United States sent 27 alpine skiers to the Games, 20 men and 7 women. The men's team took home two medals, a gold and a silver won by Kevin Bramble and Christopher Devlin-Young, respectively, in the downhill sitting event. The women won six medals, including two in the slalom standing event: a gold won by Allison Jones and a bronze by Sandy Dukat. Laurie Stephens was the alpine skiing team's most prolific medalist, with two golds and one silver.

Men

Athlete	Events	Final
		Real time	Calculated time	Rank
Erik Bayindirli	Giant slalom sitting	2:40.35	2:15.85	33
Kevin Bramble	Downhill sitting	1:36.26	1:21.03
	Super-G sitting	1:32.14	1:17.69	10
Carl Burnett	Downhill sitting	1:39.68	1:22.48	5
	Giant slalom sitting	2:29.73	2:06.85	22
	Slalom sitting	2:06.93	1:36.98	16
	Super-G sitting	1:41.40	1:24.26	31
Christopher Canfield	Giant slalom standing	2:15.17	2:04.15	31
	Slalom standing	Disqualified
	Super-G standing	1:23.88	1:17.40	32
Nick Catanzarite	Downhill sitting	DNF
	Giant slalom sitting	2:51.97	2:16.35	34
	Slalom sitting	DNF
	Super-G sitting	1:33.99	1:15.12	4
Christopher Devlin-Young	Downhill sitting	1:37.46	1:22.04
	Giant slalom sitting	2:14.58	1:55.37	4
	Slalom sitting	1:59.17	1:33.36	8
	Super-G sitting	DNF
Timothy Fox	Giant slalom standing	1:52.63	1:51.82	8
	Slalom standing	DNF
	Super-G standing	1:15.03	1:14.66	20
Ralph Green	Downhill standing	DNF
	Giant slalom standing	2:33.36	2:20.86	46
	Slalom standing	1:40.93	1:40.93	36
	Super-G standing	DNF
Gerald Hayden	Downhill sitting	DNS
	Giant slalom sitting	2:27.10	2:06.10	20
	Slalom sitting	2:06.32	1:38.97	19
	Super-G sitting	1:40.20	1:24.49	32
John Knudsen	Giant slalom sitting	2:27.09	2:07.56	25
James Lagerstrom	Downhill standing	1:22.70	1:22.49	6
	Giant slalom standing	1:59.61	1:58.74	20
	Slalom standing	1:31.49	1:30.61	23
	Super-G standing	1:15.31	1:14.94	22
Roger Lee	Downhill sitting	DNS
	Giant slalom sitting	2:29.95	2:07.04	23
	Slalom sitting	2:08.66	1:38.30	18
	Super-G sitting	1:37.53	1:21.05	19
Monte Meier	Downhill standing	1:29.10	1:24.31	17
	Giant slalom standing	DNF
	Slalom standing	1:24.03	1:24.03	8
	Super-G standing	1:20.39	1:14.18	17
Andrew Parr	Giant slalom visually impaired	2:16.14	2:04.01	8
	Slalom visually impaired	1:52.66	1:34.83	9
Reed Robinson	Downhill standing	1:27.51	1:27.33	29
	Giant slalom standing	1:59.70	1:59.46	24
	Slalom standing	1:34.67	1:33.63	28
	Super-G standing	1:18.62	1:18.46	40
George Sansonetis	Downhill standing	1:30.37	1:26.15	26
	Giant slalom standing	2:07.39	1:58.34	18
	Slalom standing	DNF
	Super-G standing	1:21.46	1:15.26	24
Josh Sundquist	Giant slalom standing	2:28.14	2:16.06	44
	Slalom standing	1:40.26	1:40.26	34
Joseph Tompkins	Downhill sitting	DNF
	Giant slalom sitting	2:45.43	2:20.16	37
	Super-G sitting	1:40.20	1:23.27	28
Tyler Walker	Downhill sitting	1:40.71	1:25.79	15
	Giant slalom sitting	2:13.97	1:56.18	6
	Slalom sitting	2:00.26	1:35.49	14
	Super-G sitting	1:31.13	1:17.75	11
Brad Washburn	Downhill standing	1:25.26	1:25.05	21
	Giant slalom standing	1:56.45	1:55.60	15
	Slalom standing	1:25.81	1:24.99	10
	Super-G standing	1:16.30	1:15.93	30

Women

Athlete	Events	Final
		Real time	Calculated time	Rank
Sandy Dukat	Downhill standing	1:40.95	1:35.53	8
	Giant slalom standing	2:16.50	2:05.36	8
	Slalom standing	1:33.66	1:33.66
	Super-G standing	1:26.85	1:20.14	6
Lacey Heward	Downhill sitting	1:56.71	1:36.57	4
	Giant slalom sitting	2:48.20	2:22.50	8
	Slalom sitting	2:28.63	1:53.56	4
	Super-G sitting	1:45.42	1:27.60	8
Allison Jones	Downhill standing	1:40.58	1:35.18	7
	Giant slalom standing	2:14.10	2:03.16	5
	Slalom standing	1:30.14	1:30.14
	Super-G standing	1:26.04	1:19.39	4
Hannah Pennington	Giant slalom standing	2:30.68	2:20.80	19
	Slalom standing	2:03.23	1:49.35	16
Laurie Stephens	Downhill sitting	1:46.86	1:29.96
	Giant slalom sitting	2:25.95	2:05.11
	Slalom sitting	2:26.64	1:54.89	7
	Super-G sitting	1:33.88	1:19.16
Elitsa Storey	Downhill standing	1:42.69	1:37.17	9
	Giant slalom standing	2:22.08	2:10.49	7
	Slalom standing	1:37.33	1:37.33	6
	Super-G standing	1:27.22	1:20.48	7
Stephani Victor	Downhill sitting	DNS
	Giant slalom sitting	2:32.94	2:12.63	4
	Slalom sitting	2:16.69	1:48.54
	Super-G sitting	1:37.80	1:23.44	4

Key: DNF=Did not finish; DNS=Did not start

Biathlon

See main article: Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Paralympics.

The U.S. Paralympic biathlon team consisted of two women and one man. All three of these athletes also competed in cross-country skiing events at the Games. The highest placed finisher was Kelly Underkofler, who took fourth in the women's 12.5 km standing event.

Athlete	Events	Final
		Real time	Missed shots	Factor %	Finish time	Rank
Monica Bascio	Women's 7.5 km sitski	36:46.7	4	94	34:34.3	6
	Women's 10 km sitski	43:37.7	10	94	51:00.6	5
Daniel Perkins	Men's 7.5 km standing	29:46.1	8	96	28:34.6	20
	Men's 12.5 km standing	DNF
Kelly Underkofler	Women's 7.5 km standing	29:42.3	2	97	28:48.9	7
	Women's 12.5 km standing	48:36.8	6	97	53:09.3	4

Cross-country skiing

See main article: Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Paralympics.

Nordic skiing

3 women, 6 men

Women:

• Monica Bascio (36, Evergreen, Colorado)
• Candace Cable (51, Truckee, California)
• Kelly Underkofler (21, St. Paul, Minnesota/Frisco, Colorado)

Men:

• Bob Balk (40, Long Beach, California)
• Steven Cook (37, Salt Lake City)
• Mike Crenshaw (51, Boulder, Colorado)
• Chris Klebl (34, Heber City, Utah)
• Greg Mallory (37, Portland, Oregon)
• Dan Perkins (47, Syracuse, New York)

Ice sledge hockey

See main article: Ice sledge hockey at the 2006 Winter Paralympics.

Ice sledge hockey

15 men

• Steven Cash (16, Overland, Missouri)
• Taylor Chace (19, Hampton Falls, New Hampshire)
• Dave Conklin (50, La Crosse, Wisconsin)
• James Connelly (16, Galloway, New Jersey)
• Brad Emmerson (20, Amherst, New York)
• Manuel Guerra, Jr (38, Plymouth, Minnesota)
• Michael Hallman (16, Hatboro, Pennsylvania)
• Lonnie Hannah II (42, Mansfield, Texas)
• Joseph Howard (39, Kingston, Massachusetts)
• Tim Jones (18, Mount Ephraim, New Jersey)
• Andrew Lipsett (19, Mesquite, Texas)
• Christopher Manns (25, Buffalo, New York)
• Alexi Salamone (18, Grand Island, New York)
• Kip St. Germaine (40, East Falmouth, Massachusetts)
• Andy Yohe (27, Bettendorf, Iowa)

Wheelchair curling

See main article: Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics.

Wheelchair curling

1 woman, 4 men

Women:

• Danell Libby (37, Chatham, New York)

Men:

• James Joseph (44, New Hartford, New York)
• Augusto Perez (33, East Syracuse, New York)
• Jim Pierce (43, North Syracuse, New York)
• Wes Smith (65, Glenburn, Maine)

The youngest member of the 2006 United States Paralympic Team was James Connelly (ice sledge hockey; bronze), at the age of 16 years and 4 months. He was a rookie defenseman on the bronze medal-winning ice sledge hockey team, making him the United States' youngest winter medal-holding Paralympian in history.

See also

• United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics

External links

• Official Torino 2006 Paralympic Games Website, archived on August 29, 2006
• International Paralympic Committee official website
• U.S. Paralympics official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: U.S. Paralympic Team Set to Kick Off 2006 Paralympic Winter Games with Opening Ceremony Tonight in Torino, Italy . 2009-07-27 . United States Olympic Committee . 2006-03-10 . DOC .
2. Web site: Bourgeois . Beth . Sled Hockey Player Lonnie Hannah Elected U.S. Flagbearer for Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games . 2006-03-18 . U.S. Paralympics . 2009-07-24 .
3. Web site: One Year Out: 2010 Paralylmpic Winter Games . 2009-07-27 . U.S. Paralympics . 2008-03-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110728082840/http://publications.teamusa.org/news/article/12667 . 2011-07-28 . dead .
4. Web site: Medal Standings Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games . 2009-07-27 . International Paralympic Committee . 2006.