Italy the goal for skier
Manawatū’s Joseph Fitzpatrick-Bryant has been selected in the New Zealand preliminary squad for the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Torino, Italy.
Fitzpatrick-Bryant won a bronze medal in the advanced alpine slalom division at last year’s National Winter Games at Cardrona and is now set to represent New Zealand on the world stage in Italy in March 2025.
Skiers from across the country have been included in the squad of 10, with eight Special Olympics clubs, from Southland to North Harbour, represented.
“Congratulations to those athletes selected in the preliminary squad, thank you to our Special Olympics Clubs and families for supporting their nominations and a warm welcome to our management and coaching team who will begin preparing our athletes for final selection,” Special Olympics chief executive Fran Scholey said.
The squad will now train and prepare for the Special Olympics at a camp in Wanaka from August 10-17. The final New Zealand team will be confirmed in late August.
The coaches and management team were also announced, with head of delegation Dave Cowie to train and prepare the athletes.
The athletes will be supported by five further coaches and support staff: assistant head of delegation and alpine skiing coach Grant Haskell (North Harbour); alpine skiing coaches, Steve Wescott (North Harbour) and Lynette Donaldson (Southland); snowboarding coach John Gilbert (Otago) and team doctor Nicole Lundon (Manawatū).
Due to the cancellation of the previous World Winter Games, this will be New Zealand Snow Sports’ athletes first opportunity to showcase their talents on the world stage since the 2017 World Winter Games in Austria, where the New Zealand team won 18 medals.
The Special Olympics World Winter Games are the world’s largest inclusive winter sports event, attracting thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities to compete in a variety of winter sports over nine days of exciting and inspiring competition.
NZ preliminary squad: Cosmo Adams, North Harbour, snowboarding; Tim Clayton, Hawke’s Bay, alpine skiing; Marc Enderle, North Harbour, alpine skiing; Joseph Fitzpatrick-Bryant, Manawatū, alpine skiing; Nicholas Fyfe, Hutt Valley, alpine skiing; Jarrod Gilbert, Te Awamutu, snowboarding; Rebecca Heath, Hutt Valley, alpine skiing; Mitchell HartnettNewlands, Auckland, alpine skiing; Grant McKenzie, Southland, alpine skiing; James Oliver, Canterbury, alpine skiing.