TOKYO (August 31, 2021) – At 32 years old, Team Toyota athlete Oksana Masters won her ninth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, winning the women’s cycling time trial H4-5 event at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 on Tuesday, August 31.
Masters won her first gold medal in cycling – and her third career Paralympic gold – with a time of 45:40.05. She can now add her first Paralympic gold medal in cycling to her accolades, the last of her four sports to medal in. Inclusive of summer and winter, Tokyo 2020 is Masters’ fifth consecutive Games, and she’s won Paralympic medals in three other sports – rowing, cross-country skiing and biathlon.
“The field here is incredible,” said Masters. “The women here are so tough. This was not expected. I was just trying to hold on and fight for third place. I never thought I’d be fighting for a gold medal at all. I’ve been dreaming about this for five years – since the day after I crossed the finish line in Rio in fifth place. I knew exactly what I did wrong, and I wanted to fix it. It just means more to me to be able to have an incredible race because of how I’ve grown as a cyclist. I had to trust my bike handling skills. I used to be such a baby in this sport. I didn’t even have a time trial helmet or anything. This is for Team USA.”
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