Monica Bascio placed 10th in today's 5 kilometer middle distance race at the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. For the second consecutive race, the American was impeded by other skiers within the first kilometer of the race. "The Russian and the Korean are both inexperienced, and each was taking one of the two tracks up the stadium hill, but were having problems making it over the top...it took me a while to find space to get around them. It only cost me 10-15 seconds overall, but it's frustrating."

Bascio skied very strong the entire race and definitely left nothing out on the course...but was once again disappointed. "I came here very prepared, am stronger and faster than I have ever been, but still ended up 10th! It's not why I came here, an there's really not much else I can say...I suppose my skis could have been faster, but I wouldn't characterize them as 'slow' either." 

Monica was 94 seconds out of the  Gold, and just over 1 minute out of the bronze, which shows just how competitive the women's sit ski field has become since 2006. "I've skied the two fastest races of my career, and it just isn't enough....the programs for most of the European Countries -- and of course the Canadians -- are much better supported, and I think it makes the difference for that final 1-2% that can put an athlete on the podium...that said, I am at least happy that I raced my best and finished strong!"

 Monica has one more race: The 1k Sprints on Sunday...stay tuned!

You can find complete results from the 5k HERE.

Monica Bascio finished 9th in today's 10 kilometer long distance race at the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. Although somewhat disappointed with her result, she is lucky to have finished the race at all after a near collision with Korean skier, Vo Ra Mi just 1 kilometer in to the event. "She crashed in front of me and was laying sideways across the tracks...I was headed fast downhill and had nowhere to go...fortunately I only ran over her skis and poles and didn't end up crashing...but it couldn't have been closer!"

Conditions were fast, and Bascio ended up with a time of 34:33, 3:41 back of repeat Gold Medalist, Ludmyla Vauchok of Belarus. Despite the fastest 10k race of her career, the 40-year old mother of 2 1/2 year old Henry (who has incredible timing:napping in the stands and missing the race) was not satisfied: "I did not come here just for the experience, I am looking for a lot more...I felt fast, I skied hard, and am definitely strong, but obviously it wasn't enough...I hope I can bounce back for the 5k on Thursday."

Considering places 3-9 are all within about 90 seconds...on any given day, most of the women in the field could win a medal. Keep your eyes on the 5k race this Thursday.

You can view the full results HERE.

We just learned that there are a variety of ways to keep your eye on the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver (March 12-21, 2010). As a quick reminder here are Monica's race dates:

• 10k - March 14
• 5k - March 18 
• 1k Sprint - March 21

Best place to watch live is: http://www.paralympicsport.tv There will also be a variety of coverage on Universal sports (tv and online during the games) and NBC (but not until April). More detailed information can be found in the press release HERE . (Does anybody actually get Universal sports on their tv ?) We'll also post results and photos as soon is humanly possible right here on monicabascio.com. Some more news about the team can be found on the usparalympics website (yes, the coach did NOT mention Monica in the latest story...who knows why!?)

Monica arrived in the athletes village on Saturday, March 6, healthy and fit, after a long day of team processing on Denver on March 5th. She is settling in fine, and is even taking advantage of the dentist office available to athletes in the village (who knew!?).

The team will be testing skis and getting the engines tuned up of the next week before the first cross country on March 14. Monica's race is the 10k (long distance) race. Rain is predicted, but so far Monica says it's actually been real snow, which is a good thing. Stay tuned...