Every 4 years, the best Special Olympic athletes from across the country meet and compete to bring home as many medals as possible, and find those who will represent Canada at the next Worlds competition. Already these athletes have proven their skills and their speed at Regional and Provincial competitions. This is the year, and Calgary is the host city of the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games for 2024. Between February 27th and March 2nd, hundreds of SO athletes and their coaches and friends will be participating in the spectacular Opening Ceremony, competing in one of the 9 sports to the very best of their ability, meeting old friends from around Canada and making new ones, then winding it all up with a huge Saturday night dance party.
From Golden, three Special Olympians are members of Team BC Cross Country Ski Squad, and have been training hard for the last 6 months.
Sebastian Gylander went to Nationals 4 years ago, when he was 15, and the promise he showed then has been proven; he has become an exceptionally strong and skilled athlete, winning most of the races he has entered since. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Classic or Skate skiing; he comes really fast to the finish. He’s also taken on a mentoring role; helping coach the young Jackrabbits program at Dawn Mountain.
Tyler Kamstra is the Golden SO comedian, with at least one new joke every week. He hasn’t been skiing as long as Sebastian, but is developing excellent style and skills. At Nationals he is going for the 100m, 500m, and 1km sprints. Since he won all three of these at Provincials last year, hopes are high for a podium place. He says that skiing is simply “a-pole-ing”!
Francis Stanley, originally from West Kelowna, came here to train last fall because our hills offered him more of a challenge than the Okanagan! This is already his third trip to Nationals, and if you happened to be at the Huckleberry Loppet recently, you will have seen why. In the 30km Classic race and 20km Skate race he challenged elite skiers from across the country, and finished up on the podium. He loves the long distances, though at Nationals the longest race available is 10km… so he’ll skate that, and then his plan is to double pole the classic 7.5km course then sprint the 5km skate race! Francis’ mother, Annabel Stanley, is a long-time SO coach, and is now BC’s Head Coach for Cross Country.
Kudos have to go to coaches, Jeff Dolinsky and Seth Conlin, for using their extensive race, and coaching experience to help these skiers get to peak performance levels. Watch this space for their results.
If you’re interested in more stories like this, check out our local sports stories here.
