• Andrew Kurka wins second Paralympic medal in as many days with silver in the men’s sitting super-G
• Team USA secures eight top-10 finishes on day two of competition

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Andrew Kurka (Palmer, Alaska) returned to the podium for the second day in a row as he won silver in the men’s sitting super-G competition at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

Kurka stormed down the course and managed to pull through, nearly losing his balance at the end to stay upright and cross the finish line. Kurka finished just more than a second behind gold medalist Kurt Oatway of Canada, grabbing silver by nine-hundredths of a second over Frederic Francois of France.

On the women’s side, the top finisher of the day was seven-time Paralympic medalist Laurie Stephens (Wenham, Massachusetts) who finished fifth, just nine-tenths of a second off of the podium in the women’s sitting classification. Stephens earned bronze in the previous day’s downhill competition. 

RESULTS
2nd: Andrew Kurka (Palmer, Alaska/men’s sitting)
5th: Laurie Stephens (Wenham, Mass./women’s sitting)
6th: Danelle Umstead (Park City, Utah/women’s visually impaired) and Rob Umstead (Park City, Utah/guide)
7th: Ally Kunkel (Steamboat, Colo./women’s standing)
8th: Stephanie Jallen (Harding, Pa./women’s standing)
9th: Kevin Burton (Erie, Colo./Navy/visually impaired) and Brandon Powell-Ashby (Boulder, Colo./Marines/guide)
10th: Staci Mannella (Randolph, N.J./women’s visually impaired) and Sadie DeBaun (Park City, Utah/guide); Melanie Schwartz (Aspen, Colo./women’s standing)
11th: Mark Bathum (Seattle, Wash./men’s visually impaired) and Cade Yamamoto (Quincy, Wash./guide)
12th: Tyler Walker (Franconia, N.H./men’s sitting)
13th: Thomas Walsh (Vail, Colo./men’s standing)
17th: Jamie Stanton (Oakland Township, Mich./men’s standing)
23rd: Stephen Lawler (Burlington, Vt./men’s sitting)
24th: Andrew Haraghey (Enfield, Conn./men’s standing)

QUOTES
Andrew Kurka - silver
On winning two Paralympic medals...
“Being a two-time Paralympic medalist is a dream come true, and it feels like everything up to this point has been worth it. That’s really what the feeling is for me. When it comes down to it, simply put, this event was redemption for me. All the injuries -- breaking my back in Sochi, breaking my femur, all those broken bones -- come down to being worth it. And this is a huge step in my future. It’s a goal that not many people get to accomplish in their lives, and it’s something I’ve accomplished now, and that I’m extremely grateful for. And I’m hoping to keep the momentum going.”

On the rest of the field…
“They’re all good competitors. We’re all here, we’re all here to compete and we’re all here to put down medals. Sometimes the USA is able to put down medals and sometimes we aren’t. I got lucky today in how I was able to get it again. It’s pretty exciting.”

On the team’s overall performance…
“I feel fantastic. We’ve never had such momentum. And hopefully that’s going to bring a lot of publicity to the Paralympic movement. As a nation, the support and everything that we get helps to fuel that and hopefully it’ll bring a worldwide movement that brings the Paralympics into the light. That’s what I’m really excited for.”

U.S. Paralympic Alpine Team Medal Count: 3
Gold: 1 - Kurka (downhill)
Silver: 1 - Kurka (super-G)
Bronze: 1 - Stephens (downhill)

LOOKING FORWARD
The alpine skiing competition pauses tomorrow with a scheduled off day. The super combined events restart the action at 9:30 a.m. KST on Tuesday, March 13/7:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 12.

TUNE-IN
NBC Olympics is providing 250 hours of coverage from PyeongChang, including 94 hours on television, which is NBC Olympics’ most ever for a Paralympic Winter Games. View the complete TV and streaming schedule here.

RESULTS
Full results from the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 can be found here. Follow U.S. Paralympics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for updated information during the event.