Special Olympics Ski Racing, BC Provincial Games, February 2007, continued

So after the first day, 2 podiums, with a bronze medal in Super G and Giant Slalom. And just like in the World Cup, races are won and lost on fractions of a second. In the Super G, Cory missed Silver by 1/10 of a second, and gold by only 6/10 of a second.


So now onto the Slalom on the second day of competition. Another beautifully perfect day weather-wise, blue skies & warm - nearly 20 degrees C, by mid-afternoon on the ski hill.





I mentioned earlier that athletes have little contact with their family and friends during competition, but since I also ski, it does put me at least in the same area. The slalom combines the skiers' results from 2 runs through the course. The time of each run is posted manually on a small board, so the skiers do not actually know where they stand at the end of the first run.



Fortunately, spectators can view the board, and after the first run, I realized Cory was in fourth place and I knew he would be disappointed with that after two bronze medals in the previous races.


So, not being allowed to speak with him, I was able to stand next to him after he had finished his first run, and I was able to tell him he was in fourth place - I could see in his face that he was not pleased with that result. We had a very brief discussion and he realized that in the second run, he had to really go for it, even if he fell and was disqualified, since he really wanted another podium finish.



For the second run, he was the first of his group of 6 skiers to race, so once his time was posted I was able to do the mental math to determine what times each of the other skiers needed to post in order to beat Cory.


I knew that moving up from 4th to 1st was rather unrealistic, but I was sure hoping to he'd get up to 3rd, so I checked the time for the 1st run for the 3rd place finisher and realized that he needed to post a time of 31.62 seconds to beat Cory for 3rd.


Once that skier had completed his run, I stood by the scoreboard and waited for the scorekeeper to post the time. A few tense moments ticked by and then she came up to the board and started writing:


"3"


(ok that's a given),


then a "1"


(oh no what will the next digit be, less than 6 and he won't make it)


and then ...


a 9, and a 8!!





31.98...Not fast enough to beat Cory - so it's another bronze medal !! By 36/100ths of a second!


(there was an error during the medal presentation - Cory, as the bronze
medallist should be on the right, not on the left)





So he proved he's got some real competitive "heart" - realizing that he really had to go for it in the second run, even if it meant falling and a disqualification. If he couldn't get to the podium, he felt that a disqualification was no worse than a 4th place finish.



And he proved that not only could he ski with the "big boys", but now he was actually one of them.



Just a fabulous weekend for him and for his mum and dad.



Cory had the opportunity to meet with the athlete that won gold and we found him to be very gracious in victory. It turns out that he is a former world champion, having represented Canada at the Alaska World Games in 2001, and won gold in the downhill. So Cory was now even more pleased that he came that close to beating a world champion.



And so begins the dream...