Taylor Mitchell had an excellent performance at last month's Special Olympics BC Winter Games in Vernon last month.
The alpine skier took home three silver medals in the super-G, giant slalom and slalom and is in the running to qualify for next year's nationals in Thunder Bay, Ont. and, from there, could crack the world championships in Sweden.
Mitchell was proud of his performance in all three of his races, as he stayed tight to the gates and pulled off quick times.
"They were all pretty good," he said. "I was going fast and trying my best."
The conditions at SilverStar Resort, also aligned with how Mitchell likes to ski.
"The conditions were really good. There was light, fluffy snow," he said, adding that he still had some jitters in his return to the provincial games, but he shook them off quickly.
"I was nervous at first," he said. "But I just took deep breaths."
For more information, visit https://www.specialolympics.ca/british-columbia/what-we-do/games-competitions/2019-sobc-winter-games/2019-sobc-winter-games-0.
Storm 2-2 at provincials
The Whistler Secondary School (WSS) Storm finished with a break-even record at the BC High School Basketball Provincial Championships in Langley from Feb. 27 to March 2.
WSS maintained its 11th-seed ranking in the AA Girls division at the end of the tournament. The Storm alternated losses and wins, beginning with a 64-54 defeat against No. 6 Vernon before edging No. 14 Little Flower Academy 77-72. The Storm dropped a 62-48 decision to No. 7 Duchess Park before ultimately defeating No. 13 G.P. Vanier 78-49 in the 11th-place game.
Athletes jump to new heights in Burnaby
Local trampoline athletes posted strong results at the first BC Cup of the season in Burnaby in February.
Three athletes were competing at a new level in their double mini events: Matthew Susko, Matthew Wallman and Ella Soane.
Wallman took first in the men's double mini L4 finals and third in the trampoline L5 finals. Susko took third in the trampoline L4 finals while Soane was fourth in the women's trampoline L5 16U finals.
Three other athletes also topped their respective divisions: Gabby Flynn (double mini L6); Sydney Lovell-Schmidt (trampoline women's L5 17-plus); and Jett Williams (trampoline men's L5). Natalia Vasquez-Vela and Kyja Sutton posted strong results in preliminaries during the competition.
Kingsbury wins eighth Crystal Globe
Canadian moguls legend Mikaël Kingsbury continued his astonishing career by taking home his eighth FIS Crystal Globe after the final World Cup event of the season on March 2 in Shymbaluk, Kazakhstan.
Kingsbury took second in that event, with his score of 79.37 placing him behind Ikuma Horishima, who posted an 81.72. Sweden's Walter Wallberg placed third with a 78.67.
"I had a really great day. It's a bit of a shame about the super final," Kingsbury said in a release. "I had a very good run, but I had a tiny bobble on my second jump and the judges were very rigorous. I think I should have gotten a slightly higher score than I did, but it's OK."Other Canadians in the top 30 included Gabriel Dufresne in 19th, Pemberton's Brenden Kelly in 24th and Laurent Dumais in 29th.
In the women's event, Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe hit the podium in third with a 76.64 score. Kazakhstan's Yulia Galysheva (79.69) edged France's Perrine Laffont (79.11) for the victory. Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was the only other Canadian in action, placing 15th.
The dual moguls event planned for March 3 was wiped out because of poor weather conditions.
Hill grabs bronze in Spain
Vernon snowboarder Kevin Hill took home a bronze medal in snowboard-cross World Cup action in Baqueria Beret, Spain on March 2.
Hill was edged in a photo finish by runner-up Adam Lambert of Australia, while Austria's Alessandro Haemmerle scored the win. Eliot Grondin and Liam Moffatt took 18th and 20th, respectively.
On the women's side, Carle Brenneman and Tess Critchlow placed 11th and 12th, respectively. Czech Republic's Eva Samkova topped France's Chloe Trespeuch and American Lindsey Jacobellis for the win.
