Paralympics Day 2 Viewing Schedule: Oksana Masters goes for more gold, this time in cross-country – NBC Olympics

Para snowboarding gets underway with the qualifying round for men’s and women’s snowboard cross. In this round, each athlete will take two runs through the course, and their best time will be used to seed them for the knockout rounds.

There’s only one classification for women this year, the LL2. Brittani Coury, the 2018 banked slalom silver medalist, is one of three Americans in the field alongside Brenna Huckaby and Katlyn Maddry.

Huckaby, a double gold medalist in the LL1 classification at the last Paralympics, did not know for sure until just a few weeks ago if she’d even be able to compete at the Paralympics after her classification was removed from the Games due to a lack of athletes. But because of a January court ruling, she’ll be allowed to race in the LL2 classification in a practice known as “competing up.” Athletes in the LL2 classification have a lower level of impairment, such as a below-the-knee amputation, while athletes in the LL1 classification, such as Huckaby, often have an above-the-knee amputation.

On the men’s side, there are three classifications: LL1, LL2, and a UL classification for athletes with upper-limb impairments. Americans Mike Schultz, Noah Elliott, Keith Gabel and Mike Minor are all back this year after winning snowboard cross medals at the 2018 Paralympics.

The snowboard cross finals will be held on Day 3 of the Games (Monday in Beijing, Sunday night in the United States).