Alaskan Skier Andrew Kurka Wins Paralympic Bronze Medal, His Third Career Medal

Our February cover story featured Alaskan Paralympic skier and outdoorsman Andrew Kurka, who had already won a gold and silver medal at previous Paralympic Winter Games, but vowed to return for one last competition. ““Going in I have goals set. Medals are on the table; I’m good enough to get them. Do I need to get them? No. But I can’t go out with a broken arm,” he said of going back for one more Winter Games at the age of 34, following an injury-affected 2022 Beijing Paralympics.

“I need to be able to say I gave it my all in my last games. I think I’m almost more (hungry), to be honest … I’ve got to work a bit harder, because I’m 34 years old, and a good portion of my competitors are 26 to 28 years old. But I have the experience to get through it, but I don’t have the physicality, so it takes much more mental determination to get through this. All of my competitors respect me. That’s all I can ask.” 

Sure enough, another medal was on the table for the Milan Cortina Paralympics, and after he missed a gate andmissed a gate and didn’t record a race time the men’s sitting downhill last week, this morning he earned his third medal, a bronze in the super-G sitting event.

Here’s more from U.S. Ski & Snowboard team:

Kurka, who has been a stalwart on the World Cup and Paralympic circuit for four Paralympic cycles, added to his medal tally in the men’s sitting super-G, earning the bronze medal with a powerful run down the Cortina course. The podium marks another Paralympic medal for Kurka, who now has a medal count of three: a gold and silver from PyeongChang and now a bronze from Milano Cortina.

Kurka’s result came behind the Netherlands’ Jeroen Kampschreur, who captured gold, and Norway’s Jesper Pedersen, who finished second. 

“It was a close race,” said Kurka. “I had some major mistakes in the course, but I was able to keep my speed up and I feel pretty good about it.”

“In the men’s sitting category, we’re basically racing motorcycles down an icy slope and off of jumps,” continued Kurka. “Anything can go wrong at any moment on it and if you’re not anticipating it then you’re going into the fence.”

Kurka will compete in another event, super combined sitting, early tomorrow morning.