Manitoba sending record number of Special Olympic athletes to World Winter Games

Manitoba’s Special Olympics athletes are being celebrated at a send off event. The nine athletes from the province will soon be heading to Turin, Italy to take part in the World Winter Games.

“I don’t care if I get a medal, I just hope we beat US,” said William Middleton, athlete on Team Canada.

More than 1500 special Olympic athletes are set to compete in the World Winter Games from March 8th to 16th. This includes the record setting 9 athletes who qualified from Manitoba, with 7 competing at the world stage for the first time ever.

“Oh my goodness, that was lots of emotions I was excited, nervous, but also extremely grateful,” said Rachel Nickel, athlete on Team Canada.

“Honestly I thought it was a scam, here I thought a person was emailing just to pretend but no it was real,” said Middleton.

In 2023, 56 athletes were selected from the provincial winter games to compete at the 2024 National Winter Games in Calgary, and from there they were then selected based on their results to qualify for Turin 2025.

“It truly is an all encompassing event and all inclusive, it just showcases the talent of these individuals and just because they have an intellectual disability does not mean they’re not elite level athletes and that’s what this shows the world,” said Colleen Lowdon-Bula, Director of Sport at Special Olympics Manitoba.

“I really like seeing how the athletes progress, the improvement that they make, and the takeaways they will accept when you suggest you know try it this way or do it this way,” said Ron Struch, coach at Team Canada.

To prepare for worlds the athletes have been training four days a week, including one day dedicated to strength and conditioning.

“I’m kind of nervous but I’m like you know what; I’m from Elmwood, I went to the same school as Clara Hughes, she represented Canada in speedskating I get to represent Canada in snowshoeing so I’m going to kind of channel her and just enjoy Italy,” said Nickel.

Before the athletes hop on their flight overseas, they have one more training camp in Quebec.