Lake Elmo's Sydney Peterson follows up silver with a bronze

Two days after winning her first Paralympic medal in her sport's longest event, cross-country skier Sydney Peterson followed up with a bronze in its shortest. Peterson, of Lake Elmo, was third in Wednesday's standing freestyle sprint at the Beijing Games, giving the Paralympics rookie two medals in two events.

On a slushy course at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre, Peterson, 20, completed the 1.5-kilometer race in four minutes, 12.1 seconds, behind winner Natalie Wilkie of Canada (4:05.1) and Norway's Vilde Nilsen (4:08.1). Peterson won a silver medal in the women's standing 15k classic Monday.

Several other Minnesota Paralympians were in action Wednesday. Cross-country skier Max Nelson, a Mahtomedi High School senior, finished 14th in the men's visually impaired sprint, while Park Rapids native Aaron Pike was 12th in the men's sitting sprint. Pike's performance was the best of the three Americans in the race.

The U.S. wheelchair curling team won twice to remain in contention for a playoff spot. Oyuna Uranchimeg of Burnsville helped the Americans to an 8-5 victory over Switzerland and an 8-7 win over Latvia, moving them up to fifth place in the round-robin standings as the preliminary round winds down.

U.S. athletes won three medals in Nordic skiing Wednesday, including Peterson's. A sophomore on the cross-country team at St. Lawrence University, she said she could feel the support of her family, friends, college coaches and teammates, who are cheering for her back home.

"It was a super challenging race,'' Peterson said. "There were a lot of components to it throughout the day, but I'm super excited about how it all stacked up. I had a ton of people that were out there helping and cheering, and it wouldn't have been possible without all their support.''

Peterson will finish her Paralympic schedule with the women's standing middle distance freestyle, set to begin Friday at 9:35 p.m. Twin Cities time.

Nelson, who made his Paralympics debut in the sprint, is expected to compete in the men's visually impaired middle distance freestyle, scheduled for Friday at 8 p.m. He is racing with guide Simi Hamilton, a three-time Olympian. Pike's next race is likely to be the men's sitting 12.5k biathlon Thursday at 8 p.m.

The wheelchair curling team lost to Sweden 10-7 on Wednesday night Central time, leaving the United States out of the medal round. The Americans then finished the round robin against South Korea at 12:35 a.m. Thursday.