“We are so pleased that ITTF is recognising the Global Games programme in this way and it gives yet more incentive for the players in Vichy, in what is an already competitive and fiercely fought championship. This will be a special moment for the players who step out into the final games and we are looking forward to a fantastic competition with the world’s best players with an intellectual impairment”, said Virtus President Marc Truffaut.

The final day of the championship was full of action at Seefeld. France moved to the number one spot on the medal table on day one with just six medals and finished as the most decorated nation with 18 medals. Austria grabbed second place with 143 medals followed by Japan with a total of 11 medals.

Final Medal tally

Highlights from the last day of the competition

ALPINE SKIING

While Austrian girls dominated the podiums in both II1 and II2 classes, visiting nation Japanese men didn’t leave any medals for other nations.

In II2 Women’s SG, FRIEDL Anna-Sophie and SCHLÖMMER Stephanie once again claimed the same spot for the third time in a row, taking home gold and silver respectively. It was a proud moment for visiting nation Finland as WESTERSTRAHLE Bea wins their first medal – bronze.

KANAZAWA Aoshi, KIMURA Yoshihide and KIZUKI Yusuke representing Japan won gold, silver and bronze and had a clean sweep of the podium in II1 Men’s SG.

In II1 Women’s SG, DÜNSER Eva Maria won another gold for Austria by beating TAMAMI Baba (JPN). Swedish skier GERHARDSSON DANIELSSON Elmie had a narrow escape from FLYNN Laura (AUS) by 0.13sec and managed to grab the final spot on the podium.

WIERCIOCH Antoni (POL) thrashed RICHE Paul (FRA) to win the gold with 51.29sec and DRESSADORE Alessandro (ITL) settled for the bronze medal.

NORDIC SKIING

The 2×2.5km relay events were underway today at the Nordic skiing venue.

French women’s teams claimed two gold medals in relay competitions. In II1, SHIMURA Ririsu and NAKAZAWA Kei representing Japan lost the gold to THIROUX Lea and PETITNICOLAS Manon from France. In II2 mixed relay, KELKHAL Stephane and PORTNER Aaron added another gold for France.

Seefeld witnessed some extreme weather conditions today which interrupted the competitions scheduled for Day-2, especially at the Alpine competition venue Rosshütte ski area. Due to continuous rainfall, the Super-G race scheduled for today, was postponed to the 16th March. Although athletes were unhappy with the cancellation of the race, many athletes were seen enjoying snow fights with their fellow athletes.

NORDIC SKIING

The Cross-Country Sprint race made it’s way to the Nordic skiing venue Seefeld Sports Arena. Although the climatic conditions did not favour the athletes today, Nordic skiers showed extraordinary resilience and determination and put on a great show. While some continued with their ‘A’ game and stayed on top of the podium, others changed their strategy and took out their opponents to climb up the rank.

PERNAL Malgorzata from Poland. Picture Credit- Valentin Baubinder

In Women’s II1 Cross-Country Skiing sprint, PERNAL Malgorzata scored her second Gold from the tournament in the sprint race today. French skier THIROUX Lea took her revenge on BJÖRFELDT Kristin (Sweden) by winning silver, making Kristin settle for the bronze.

(L-R) DUBOIS Titouan, TEEARU Hans (Estonia) and YAMADA Yuta (Japan). Picture Credit- Valentin Baubinder

An identical race was seen in II1 Men’s category where winners from yesterday’s race swapped their places on the podium. As TEEARU Hans wins Estonia their second Gold from the championship in the Cross-country Sprint, DUBOIS Titouan (France) skied ahead of his opponent YAMADA Yuta (Japan) and claimed the second spot.

KOSTNER Tobia (Italy) and COLOMBY Clement (France) posing. Picture Credit- FFSA

In II2 Men’s category, history was repeated from yesterday as COLOMBY Clement from France and KOSTNER Tobia Maria from Italy won Gold and Silver respectively.

Full results can be accessed from the Virtus World Skiing Championship website.

The first-ever Virtus World Skiing Championships for athletes with Intellectual Impairment to be held on Austrian snow was declared open yesterday. 

Austrian Disability Sports Organization Österreichischer Behindertensportverband who are also the Virtus member in Austria welcomed all the dignitaries and athletes to the opening ceremony. The event was attended by Ex-ski stars Benni and Marlies Raich, State councillors Ewa Pawlata (social affairs, inclusion and women) and Cornelia Hagele (health, care, education, science and research), Hans Niessl, President of Sport Austria, federal sports organization, Markus Wackerle, Mayor of Seefeld, the President of the Austrian Disabled Sports Association – Brigitte Jank and Member of the National Council, Agnes Sirkka Prammer, sports spokeswoman for the Green Party.

Dignitaries at the opening ceremony event. Picture Credit- Sebastian Marko

The marching-in of the nations started at 1800hrs at the Music pavilion and was the first action of the program list for the opening ceremony. Numerous local artists set the stage on fire to celebrate the “Festival of Friendship” far beyond sports. Mascot Snowy, played by actor Keanu Pöttinger, was seen walking among the athletes and cheering them up for the event. The children’s choir and the brass players of the Zirl Regional Music School along with an energetic Taekwondo routine display by the Taekwondo Seefeld and Seefeld singer Kathrin Raunigger who performed their show on the stage of the music pavilion were the highlights of the evening.

Addressing the crowd, Paula Grameiser-Scher, Secretary of LOC Virtus Skiing Championship, “I can’t believe it yet. Seeing all of you in front of me, it is like a dream that has just become reality. Your presence has made our work more than worthwhile and means everything to us! ”

René Schönberger, ÖBSV-KGM Chairman extended special thanks to the students of the FH Kufstein who are responsible for the organisation of the supporting programme, the students of 2AHWIT of the HTL Spengergasse from Vienna accompanied by their two professors.

Marc Truffaut, Virtus President and Governing board member, Ian Conyers also attended the event and was thrilled by the wonderful programme.

Ian Conyers, Member of Virtus Governing Board Picture Credit- Sebastian Marko

“We are so excited to be here this evening. I want to let you know you that you have one of the greatest local organizing committees that we have ever seen. They went through the pandemic and they never gave up on the Virtus World Ski Championships. So to Paula, to Renee, to the local organizing committee, to all of the sponsors, the coaches and everyone that made this happen. Thank you so much for sticking to it all the way through.” said Ian Conyers, member of the Virtus Governing Board.

Having athletes scattered out across a vast area presents particular challenges when managing national teams. However, Team USA proved this does not have to be a barrier to success when they became the most successful nation at the 2022 Virtus World Cross Country Championships. The event, hosted by Athletes Without Limit(AWL) in the city of San Diego saw the home team win five of the eight gold medals and ruled the podium. This was despite the fact that the team, who won both the 4km and 8km team events, mostly do not train together.

Scott Brinen, Head coach of USA Cross Country team

“They didn’t have any time together to practice. I spent time over the six months before the event having video calls with the athletes and asking them how their training is going, coming up with some sort of resources for their parents/personal coaches if they had any questions,” says Scott Brinen, head coach for the USA Cross-Country team.

Newbies like Ishaan Iyer and Ben Bluemound, teamed up with Paralympians like Mike Brannigan, Breanna Clark, and Kaitlyn Bounds to keep their national flags on top. One of those hidden heroes was Ben Bluemound who inspired everyone with his performance and contribution to the team despite suffering from a seizure just a week prior to the event. He fought through the soreness and medications to play a major role in the team’s event.

Ben Bluemound in action at the 2022 Virtus World Cross Country Championship. ©Athletes Without Limits. Picture credit: DMAC 49

“The seizure I had was apparently triggered by a fever that spiked around early November and I didn’t think I would be able to compete until the doctors cleared me. I was actually in pain in some areas of my back muscles while I was running, and I was adjusting to the new medication at a different time zone.” Ben Bluemound told Virtus.

Athletes spoke highly of each other, of the bond they created and shared over the two-day event. They thoroughly enjoyed staying together, being roommates, having meals together, practising and participating in the event together and appreciating the time which is usually missed through the lack of training camps. The primary reason behind this appears to be the lack of funding.

Brinen, who is the owner and head coach of Badger Track Club in Madison, Wisconsin and a ‘lululemon Ambassador, has been the head coach of team USA since 2019 and is working closely with AWL attempting to create connections and unify athletes across the country which has been a ‘fairly steep learning curve according to him because although the USA has a national program, getting funding support for para athletes is hard and for athletes with intellectual impairment is even harder.

“Many countries have well-funded national programs which unfortunately we (USA) don’t have, and this makes it very difficult to build a team and train it to get the results we want to achieve. All our athletes are spread across the country and I coach only a couple of them but the rest have their own personal coaches. All I can do in this situation is to kind of coordinate with their parents/personal trainers and coach them. Those nations who have national programs or regular training camps get to spend time coaching the athletes for multiple years. I don’t have that advantage. I hope people in our government  or other sponsors see what’s going on and come forward to support us.”

Scott further shared how parents are struggling to find coaches for their children whether it’s in their city or state because of the extra attention or support they need. Many parents end up training their kids themselves which puts a lot of pressure on them as they have to squeeze in the training time alongside their full-time job.

Many Virtus members worldwide face similar issues and have been making their own arrangements whether by fundraising or self-finance to fund their players for Virtus events and other championships. This certainly puts pressure on everyone to have added expenses and is even harder for those at an economic disadvantage.

“If teams like the USA are struggling for funding, we can imagine just how hard it is for some of our smaller or developing nations. I hope governments and organisations come forward to help elite athletes with an intellectual impairment to achieve their sporting dream” said Mr Marc Truffaut, President of Virtus.