Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin Italy 2025 – By Annabel Stanley
I have just returned from Italy for the Special Olympics World winter games as head coach for the Cross country ski team.
The Special Olympics Team Canada 2025 consisted of 90 athletes, 24 coaches and 5 mission staff from across all 12 Provinces and Territories and we competed in Cross Country skiing, snow shoeing, alpine skiing, figure skating and speed skating.
My team was made up of 20 athletes from Labrador to Vancouver and included 3 athletes from Telemark Nordic , Francis Stanley, Tracey Melesko and Kelsey Wyse.
I had 5 assistant coaches with me which included Ty Wilkinson also a member of Telemark , and Les Sigal from Sovereign Lake Nordic.
The snow shoeing team included David Wilkinson (Coach) and his son Tony Wilkinson (athlete). Note that Ty, David and Tony are all from one family which made this an extra special games for them and they have Italian heritage too!
We were away for 2 weeks which started with gathering the team in Toronto ,flying to Italy and spending a couple of days seeing the sights of beautiful Turin.
The opening ceremonies arrived at last and were held in the Olympic Stadium in Turin attended by 102 countries which was spectacular as we all marched in and assembled in our countries uniforms, from Albania to Kazakhstan, Oman to Tajikistan, Israel to Egypt and of course Canada.
Tim Shriver ( Chairman of Special Olympics International) gave a very moving speech as he said Special Olympics was a country of no borders and no exclusions and this message shone through out the week of competition as we celebrated the achievements of all our athletes, leaving current politics behind .
The next day March 9th we were on the bus for Sestriere up in the mountains and at last we had our first day on snow at the ski venue in Pragelato , a 15 minute bus ride from Sestriere .
The trails were icy and challenging on that first day and a great deal of chat amongst the coaches was about waxing, the athletes conversations were more about the amazing food and where our next gelato was going to be!
That night it snowed and snowed and we awoke to a winter wonderland for our first day of divisioning, which is important as we structure fair competition to ensure athletes compete against others of similar ability and gender.
By Wednesday 12th we were into finals and Francis won us our first Gold Medal in the 10km free with a time of 23:15.18
Tracey took up Skate skiing only 3 years ago which for a woman of just 50 years old has been impressive to watch and she had a decent result of 6th place.
The next day, Tracey was back and placed 5th for 2.5km free.
We could not have put on this competition without the many volunteers who were not only Italian , but from many other nations, I met Finns, Germans, English and even a Canadian from Golden all returning and celebrating seeing each other from previous games .
Francis flew out of the starting gate on the 14th March in the 5km free and captured another Gold medal with a time of 10:04.67
It was now Kelsey’s time to compete on the 14th March and she had back to back races – 500m and 2.5 km classic in which she had stiff competition and placed 4th in both.
Last day of competition arrived on the 15th, my team had won 18 medals and I had relays and 100m finals to go.
I had 4 Canadian relay teams, and an international team consisting of a Fin , 2 Czechs and a Canadian (Owen from the Yukon).
The day was started foggy with light snow but the team spirit was high and athletes and families ( who came to support us all week) were anxiously waiting for the first team to compete in 4 x 1 km loops.
The gun fired and the race was on, Francis’s team of Colin, Darby and Layne flew around the stadium and over the line 20 seconds faster than China and then 2 seconds later by Norway, winning Gold!
My 2nd relay team beat Lithuania by nerve wracking 4 seconds earning another Gold.
The 3rd relay team with Tracey , Kelsey, Elouise and Brita beat Germany’s 2nd place by a decent 32 seconds, winning , guess what? Another Gold!
And the fourth relay team brought in another Gold beating the USA in 2nd place.
Spirits were high amongst the Canadian sideline waving the maple leaf with pride.
Then the mixed Nation Relay was on and Owen’s team placed 3rd with a Bronze medal, His smile radiated with pride as he was awarded his first medal of the Games.
The last race was the 100m and 63 year old Tommy from PEI who’s 6 sisters and 4 other members of his family had been cheering him on all week waited for
his heat to start.
The gun fired and he was off double poling to a 2nd place and his first and only silver medal, the tears streamed down his cheeks as did mine as I watched him hug his whole family and finally me.
My team returned with 23 Gold medals, 6 Silver and 8 Bronze.
Every athlete gave it all they could and came home proudly wearing at least one medal. Which is pretty impressive.
Tracey and Kelsey both have a Gold for the relay and Francis has 3 Gold medals.
I am so proud to have represented Canada as the Special Olympics cross country Head Coach and thanks goes to Telemark Nordic for all their support and inclusion they have given to these 3 Cross Country skiers and Tony Wilkinson ( Gold and Bronze) in Snow shoeing.
Our moto is “Let me win, but if I cannot win let me be brave in the attempt” and all athletes showed determination, sportsmanship in defeat and winning and bravery when they represented Canada at the Special Olympics Winter World Games in Italy this March 2025.
