Accomplished SOWI athlete and Neillsville native Daina Shilts returns to X Games Aspen to defend her 2020 and 2022 gold medals in the Unified Snowboarding Dual Slalom event at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colo.
Teams will be comprised of one professional action sports athlete–including X Games and Olympic medalists–and one Special Olympics action sports athlete for a total of six, two-person tandems. Special Olympics Athletes in this year’s competition represent Colorado, Oregon, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Finland.
Each of the team members will take one run on each of the two competition courses, with the professional athletes racing against one another and the Special Olympics athletes racing one another. The combined best times of each team will determine the finish.
A Special Olympics athlete since she was eight years old, Daina has medaled all seven times in Unified Snowboarding at X Games Aspen. Daina was also part of the Special Olympics USA Games 2018 and 2022 TV talent team for ESPN, as the first female with an intellectual disability to serve as an analyst.
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For more information, visit XGames.com.
(Event photo courtesy Ben Solomon)
