Disabled Sports USA

Torino Paralympians to Watch

Challenge Magazine Fall 05

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"Tai Chi: An Effective Exercise Program for Absolutely Everyone"

Disabled athletes from around the world will descend upon the Italian city of Torino for the 2006 Paralympic Games. Here are a few names you may hear announced just before the national anthem plays at the medal ceremony.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING/BIATHLON

Steve Cook
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Date of Birth: July 11, 1968

Steve “Cookie” Cook is coming off a double-gold performance at the 2005 World Championships at Fort Kent, Maine. He also won the overall World Cup title for standup skiers. Overall, he has a total of 11 medals (3 gold) in the last four major championships.

Kelly Underkofler
Hometown: St. Paul, MN
Date of Birth: April 10, 1984

Underkofler finished with three Top 10s at the ’05 World Championships, three Top 5s at the ’03 World Championships, and two Top 10s at the ’02 Paralympics. She is also considering the biathlon at the Paralympics, in addition to her cross-country races.

ALPINE SKIING

Chris Devlin-Young – Sit-Skier
Hometown: Campton, NH
Date of Birth: December 26, 1961

Mono-skier Chris Devlin-Young is the first disabled skier to win Paralympic titles in two classes. Last year, he won five World Cup races, the super-G title, and three gold medals at The Hartford U.S. Championships in Vail. He also took gold in the Sit-skier MonoCross at the X Games in Aspen and third in the first two slaloms.

Laurie Stephens – Sit-Skier
Hometown: Wenham, MA
Date of Birth: March 5, 1984

Stephens swept all World Cup titles in 2005 (Overall, SG, GS, SL) and had 10 wins in 16 World Cup races in 2005. She was the 2004 World Cup mono-ski overall and GS champion. On top of her accomplishments on the hill, she also set a U.S. record in disabled swimming.

Tyler Walker – Sit-Skier
Hometown: Franconia, NH
Date of Birth: April 10, 1986

Last season, Walker produced his second World Cup win and added three other podium appearances. In addition, he was the runner-up in the 2005 World Cup Overall, GS points, and the 2004 mono-ski GS points. He also won the opening super-G of the ’05 season and the 2004 GS in Abtenau, Austria.

Lacey Heward – Sit-Skier
Hometown: Boise, ID
Date of Birth: November 27, 1979

Heward took home two medals at the 2002 Paralympic Games and has been a cornerstone of U.S. mono-skiing dominance among the womens racers, especially in speed events, ever since. She has seven career World Cup wins.

Stephani Victor – Sit-Skier
Hometown: Park City, UT
Date of Birth: August 29, 1969

Stephani is a former film student who has discovered skiing after a 1995 accident made her a bilateral above-knee amputee. In the last decade, she has become a Paralympic medallist, had 9 World Cup victories, won the 2004 World Championships, and was the 2004 World Cup Slalom champion.

Sandy Dukat – Standing Skier
Hometown: Vail, CO
Date of Birth: May 3, 1972

Dukat was skiing the best of her career with a win and three top five finishes in six races, but she lost half of the 2005 World Cup season due to injury. She finished second in all four title races at The Hartford U.S. Disabled Alpine Championships.
She has Paralympic and World Championship medals and has been a winner at the World Cup. Sandy was chosen as one of 9 representatives to take part in the USOC Media Summit.

Allison Jones – Standing Skier
Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO
Date of Birth: May 12, 1984

At just 21-years-old, “Jonezy” has won the 2005 U.S. down hill championship, three World Cup victories, three gold medals and one silver medal at the 2004 Worlds, won the 2004 World super-G championship, the overall World Cup championship, and gold and silver medals
at the 2002 Paralympics. Despite her success, she hopes to make the U.S. disabled cycling team in the Velodrom event.

Monte Meier – Standing Skier
Hometown: Park City, UT
Date of Birth: April 27, 1971

Monte’s plan was to retire after the 2002 Paralympics, but after taking home the silver medal at the Games, plans changed. He was the runner-up in the 2005 World Cup overall points, he took home a slalom gold medal at the 2005 Hartford Championships, won a bronze medal at the 2004 World Championships, a gold and silver medal at the 1998 Paralympics, and two medals at the 2000 World Championships, and he’s still going.

George Sansonetis – Standing Skier
Hometown: Fraser, CO
Date of Birth: October 20, 1972

Sansonetis took home two medals at the 1998 Paralympics in Japan. His 2005 season was marked by consistency and strong results for the second straight winter, especially in super-G. He also took home three gold medals from The Hartford U.S. Championships in Vail. He used mountain biking as a preseason tool to help boost his strength and endurance.

SLEDGE (SLED) HOCKEY

Manuel Guerra Jr.
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
Date of Birth: July 7, 1967

“Manny” has been a member of every national sled hockey team since 1990. He has been a part of the 2004 silver medal winning team at the IPC Sledge Hockey World Championships and the gold medal winning team at the 2002 Games.

Alexi Salamone
Hometown: Grand Island, NY
Date of Birth: June 17, 1987

Playing among veterans like Joe Howard and Manny Guerra Jr. who were on the gold medal-winning 2002 U.S. Paralympic Team, has given Salamone the skills and confidence to be a real contender on the ice. He was a part of the silver medal-winning IPC Sledge Hockey World Championship team.

CURLING

U.S. Paralympic Curling Team
Hometown: United States of America

For the first time in Paralympic Games history, Curling will be a medal event at the winter games. The United States team
heads to Torino to make its mark on the curling world and be the first gold medal-winning team in the record books.

Challenge • Fall 2005 • Page 21-22