This year’s ESPN Winter X Games 14 in Aspen, Colo. featured two adaptive sports, bringing the total number of competitions for disabled athletes at both the Winter and Summer X Games to three.
In the first-ever Adaptive SnoCross event, professional SnoCrosser Mike Schultz won the gold medal with a time of 5:18.403. For more information about Schultz and his journey back to competition, read the Rebuilding Lives profile in the January issue of O&P Business News. Jim Wazny, Wright & Filippis prosthetic technician, posted a time of 5:32.852, winning second place over Doug Henry (5:34.217), who competed for the first time since becoming paralyzed, according to his ESPN biography.
“The experience of being with all the high-profile athletes in the world is mind-blowing,” Wazny said in a press release. “To win the silver medal at X Games is a dream come true, and it proves that all things are possible if you are willing to put in the hard work.”
Rounding out the rest of the category were Jeff Tweet in fourth with a time of 5:56.507, E.J. Poplawski with a time of 11:02.254, and Travis Gavelle, who finished in 23:50.135.
In the Mono Skier X event, Tyler Walker placed first, with a time of 2:04.876 in the finals. Gregory Peck (2:07.970) and Kevin Connolly (2:23.525) came in second and third places, respectively, while Chris Devlin-Young finished out the finals in fourth place with a time of 5:00.
