FIRST STEP - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Cory took the first step on the long road to the next World Games when he competed in the Regional Qualifier at a familiar ski hill - Crystal Mountain in West Kelowna, BC. Under cold but mostly sunny skies, Cory took first place in the top Advanced Division in all three events.
In the 2 slalom runs, he beat his main Special Olympics BC rival by 1.7 seconds. Here's his first run:
And his 2nd Slalom run:
The Giant Slalom was only one run but the timing mechanism didn't work for Cory's run so he had to do a re-run. He was wearing only his thin race suit and had to go back up the chair for his second run. He looked really good in that first run but a bit stiffer for the 2nd run - not surprising since he was likely cold by then - but won the race by nearly 2 seconds.
His two runs:
Unfortunately, the race organizers decided not to release results after the race so there was no podium presentations. But mission accomplished just the same, so now his next important race will be in February 2015 at Sun Peaks near Kamloops BC, where he will try to qualify for his second National Winter Games to be held in Newfoundland in 2016.
The story of a 35-year-old man with autism and a passion for ski racing, and his dream-come-true of representing Canada at Special Olympics World Winter Games. In 2020, Cory qualified for Team Canada and was due to compete at the World Winter Games in Russia in January 2023. Those Games were cancelled. Cory then had to restart the 3 year qualification process which culminated at the 2024 National Winter Games where Cory qualified for the next World Winter Games in Italy in 2025.
