'Skill and the talent': Manitobans enjoy medal haul at Special Olympics World Winter Games in Italy

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 7:50 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

With 11 medals and counting, Manitoban athletes are taking implicit Italy's Piedmont Region with the largest delegation from the state truthful acold astatine the Special Olympics World Winter Games. 

More than 1,500 athletes with cognitive delays, intelligence and developemental disabilities,e  from 100 delegations person been competing successful 8 sports astatine the Games, running from March 8 until Saturday successful Turin, Italy.

Nine Manitobans are among this year's Team Canada delegation, including Brita Hall, from Winnipeg. 

"I'm truthful excited that I tin I'm retired present and ski, that I tin bash what I tin bash … and getting medals," Hall told CBC News Friday. 

Hall added 2 metallic medals to Team Canada's number aft finishing 2nd successful the 5K and 7.5K escaped method competitions in her division.

Shawn Jesse, an adjunct manager astatine the Special Olympics, has been grooming with Hall astatine the Games, picking up connected the enactment from her Winnipeg coach.

"She was capable to bring her champion to these Games," Jesse said. "She works truly hard … not lone connected skis." 

During off-season, Hall picked up way moving to enactment successful signifier earlier the skis season, erstwhile she joined 2 grooming camps and participated successful different competitions starring up to the Special Olympics. 

"It's been precise busy," Jesse said. "It's been a agelong 2 weeks, athletes competed hard." 

Hall is 1 of 9 Manitobans connected Team Canada, the largest delegation the state has ever sent to the Winter Games — a "huge achievement" for Special Olympics Manitoba.

WATCH | Nine Manitobans among 90 Canadian athletes competing astatine Special Olympics Winter Games:

"Manitobans person specified a spot to them … athletes are determined and hard-working, and they truly are apical competitors crossed the world," Melissa Suggitt, the communications manager for Special Olympics Manitoba.

Another of Team Canada's standouts is Dylan Collins, an alpine skier from Selkirk, Man., who won golden successful the intermediate elephantine slalom contention successful his part and snatched a metallic medal successful the intermediate super-G event.

Collins trains astatine the Springhill Winter Park, Suggitt said, proving Manitoba athletes tin vie astatine the highest level against others who bid successful the mountains.

"It conscionable showcases the accomplishment and the talent, the spot and resilience of our athletes to beryllium competing astatine specified a precocious level," Suggitt said. 

Athletes were selected based connected their show astatine the Special Olympics Canada National Winter Games, held successful Calgary past year.

Since they were drawn from the excavation of contenders, Suggitt said athletes person been grooming a minimum of 3 to 4 days a week, adjacent done the summer.  

With snowfall successful abbreviated proviso astatine the extremity of fall, Suggitt said it was challenging for athletes to statesman their wintertime grooming for the Games. 

But "they came upon those obstacles … and inactive are performing astatine an elite level crossed the satellite successful Italy," she said. "They are determined, resilient … their spot is unreal." 

A testament to those values, Suggitt said, is Rachel Nickel, who won 2 bronze medals connected snowshoeing — 1 of them portion being sick, an accrued situation arsenic an immunocompromised person.

"That conscionable showcases the tone of our athletes and the tone of the Games," she said. "Our athletes tin beryllium that careless of ability, they are conscionable arsenic capable." 

Other Manitoba athletes adding to the medal tally are snowshoers Alec Baldwin with a golden and a silver, Harry Burns with a golden and Jenny Noonan with 2 bronze medals.