Medals for N.L. athletes at Special Olympic World Winter Games in Austria
Athletes from Gander, Carbonear and Harbour Grace have won medals in snowshoeing events at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria.
Sandra Smith of Carbonear won gold in the 200-metre F21 event Tuesday, with a time of 1:10:54. She four seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
Crystal Young of Harbour Grace also won gold in the 5K snowshoeing race.
Smith and Young compete again Wednesday in a 4x100 relay.
Gander's Floressa Harris picked up a silver medal in the 200-metre F13 snowshoeing division, and also won a bronze Monday in the 100-metre race.
"I just try to give it my all and go for it," she told the Central Morning Show Wednesday, as she waited to accept her silver medal.
"I wasn't expecting it, I wanted to do my personal best and that's what I did."
Amazing spirit
Harris's coach Rachel Matthews said the Gander athlete has another chance for a medal at the relay final on Thursday.
In the meantime, she is having a great time at the games and is enjoying the beauty of Austria, as well as the energy of the crowd there to cheer them on.
"The whole spirit of it is amazing," Matthews said Wednesday morning by phone from Austria.
While they've been mostly focused on Floressa's competitions, they have been hearing about the success Team Canada is having in general, and said they're both proud to be representing such a respected country at the games.
"You can really see the training they've done. Especially between them and some of the other countries, you can really tell the difference," said Matthews.
"You kind of just go 'Wow, we're in the middle of it all, it's amazing.'"
