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First Medals
Competition is well and truly underway at the Special Olympics World Winer Games with Team Australia hitting the slopes on Saturday for divisioning and Sunday for finals of the Alpine skiing and Snowboarding Super G event.
An amazing effort from all our athletes. Here are the results:
Alpine skiing Super G:
Kristian Sandercoe, Silver
Ben Pearce, Bronze
Shaun McKee, 8th
Brenton Heslehurst, 4th
Luke Forster, 6th
Olivia Sayers, 6th
Sara Molloy, 4th
Alex Cherny, 5th
Snowboarding Super G:
Craig Muhlbock, Bronze
Click here for photos from competition and medal/ribbon presentations.
Super G, also know as super giant slalom, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing or snowboarding. it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom, which will be held later this week. A super-G course consists of widely set gates that racers must pass through. The course is set so that skiers must turn more while maintaining a high speed.
Today all 12 members of the team were in action in Giant Slalom divisioning with the finals to be held tomorrow. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for results and photos. |
Aussie Cheer Squad
Team Australia has no shortage of support in Austria. A total of 25 family members and supporters have travelled to Schladming to see their stars in action, cheering loudly and proudly.
The Chernys (6), the Muhlbocks (5) and the Molloys (4) lead the cheer squad but every athlete has family on hand to support them.
One special supporter is Luke Fitzpatrick who is a long-time coach and mentor to Alpine skier Krisitan Sandercoe. The pair were featured in a piece from ESPN on Kristian’s journey to the Games. Click here to read. On Sunday, there were plenty of celebrations as Luke was in attendance to see Kristian win a silver medal.
Ben Hosts Forum
Earlier this week Special Olympics Australia board member and athlete Ben Haack moderated a forum called 'Let’s Change the Game', discussing solutions to end exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, at the Congress Hall in Schladming.
The Forum featured senior officials from the European Union, International Red Cross, Lions Clubs International, Special Olympics athletes, members of the Special Olympics International Board of Directors, and international sports figures and artists.
Key influencers gathered to celebrate successes, share challenges and make commitments to inclusion of people with an intellectual disability through sport and health.
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