The first dispatch is in from Niagara-on-the-Lake resident Carter Simpson's Mom AnnLiz from Sestriere, Italy. The 31-year-old member of Canada's Alpine Ski team has captured his first medal of the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games, a fourth-place finish in the Giant Slalom race earlier today.
"He gave us all heart failure in his first run, when he had two major wobbles," AnnLiz says via email, "but he still made the gate. Then he came back for the second run and NAILED IT. He is happy. He said 'Mom, I didn’t fall, I won."
Along with AnnLiz, Simpson's father Mike Sweeny and his brothers Palmer and Chandler and Mike's daughter Elizabeth are all forming a cheering section for him at Sestriere’s Vialattea Resort, the alpine ski venue for the games.
Simpson is also scheduled to compete in the Slalom and Super G races over the next few days.