U.S. Paralympian Oksana Masters reflects on winning 22 medals: “My cheeks are hurting from smiling”

Oksana Masters, the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian of all time, told CBS News that “my cheeks are hurting from smiling” after winning three gold medals in Milan. 

“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” Masters said. “I am shocked.” 

Masters took home her 20th medal after placing first in the women’s sprint sitting discipline in the Para biathalon on March 7. She also earned two more medals — her 21st and 22nd — in Para cross-country skiing events. She won both races, bringing her career gold medal tally to 12. Masters has one race left at the 2026 Winter Games. 

Masters’ season was marred by surgery, a bone infection and concussion, but she told CBS News that her childhood as an orphan in Ukraine gave her the resilience needed to persevere in the world of competitive sports. Masters was adopted by an American couple when she was 7 years old. She later had her legs amputated due to radiation exposure from the Chernobyl disaster.

“I know that life isn’t guaranteed, and so I don’t take anything for granted,” Masters said. “When I reflected back … my personal journey parallels so similarly to my athletic journey. I didn’t make my first Paralympic Games in 2008 when I wanted to. I know what it’s like to not make it, to make it, to win gold or walk away from a Paralympic Games with no medals. I think that stems from not ever giving up, when I was a little girl in Ukraine, to now.” 

This is Masters’ eighth Paralympics. She has competed in both summer and winter events since 2012 but said it’s impossible to pick which Games she likes better. Summer has “better tan lines and rowing,” but cross-country skiing in the Winter Paralympics is always unique, Masters sais. 

“You’ll never have the same course twice or the same lap twice,” she told CBS News. “When I ski at the start of the race, one lap, the second lap is different. So I’m constantly adjusting and finding those fast lines, the fast snow. And I’m not settling. I’m constantly adjusting and pushing myself outside of my comfort zones and that’s something that’s so unique to winter sports in general. I do love that part of it.” 

Masters is an icon among Paralympic athletes and a role model to some younger teammates. She said she feels lucky to “show both sides of an athlete and the journey,” and show that there “isn’t a perfect timeline” to success. 

“I feel like it’s just an absolute honor to be able to show parts of my journey, the ups and downs, because I think it’s very important to see that gold medalists or (first-timers) that it doesn’t have to be smooth sailing, and it often isn’t, and it’s okay,” Masters said. “Just don’t give up on yourself and your dream.” 

Meanwhile, her own inspiration is close to home. 

“My mom is my number one reason of why I’m here and why I keep pushing myself and trying to prove to myself what’s truly possible, and prove to society what’s truly possible,” Masters said. 

The U.S. is currently second in the medal count at the Paralympic Games, with 12 medals, behind China, with 14 total medals.