Day 3 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics was a struggle in transportation. Jill scored a massive win by getting to the para Alpine competition, but thanks to the not-well-thought-out transportation schedule, saw 1.5 of 6 classes. Still, it was a massive achievement for Keep the Flame Alive that we’ve finally made it to a Para Alpine competition!
Things got better at the last round robin session of wheelchair curling, where TKFLASTANI Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer gave Team China its first loss of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Alison went back to Milano to see para ice hockey and spent more time on the train than in the rink. Hear how that went down and what Milano looks like two weeks later.
Sports on today’s program:
- Para Alpine skiing
- Para ice hockey
- Wheelchair curling
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Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
Photo courtesy of OIS Photos.
TRANSCRIPT
Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript and may contain errors. Please check its accuracy against the audio. Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics: Day 3
Jill Jaracz: [00:00:00] And welcome to Keep the Flame Alive. Day three, coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games. I am your host, Jill Jarris, coming to you from sh Stanhouse in Vania Mare joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Allison Chow, commo Sta.
Alison Brown: You know, I’m wondering if people don’t understand what Venetia Mestre is when you say that,
Jill Jaracz: oh, well it’s Ven.
We’re in Venice, but we’re not on the island that you think of when you think of Venice. We are off the island. By the main [00:01:00] train station. Basically by the Maray
Alison Brown: station.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Yes. So that is what we talk of when we talk of Venicia. ’cause now we have to be like hip and cool
Alison Brown: and sound Italian.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, exactly.
Alison Brown: It’s Melano. Corino is cia.
Jill Jaracz: Well, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Alison Brown: Don’t even start with the song that we don’t hear, except when the volunteers sing it for us. I ran into one of our volunteers from the train yesterday, from the bus yesterday, on the train today. Oh,
Jill Jaracz: nice.
Alison Brown: So I was like, huh. And he sort of looked at me and I was like, you were on the bus without yesterday.
He was like, oh, he had no clue. He didn’t remember me, but I remembered him and his singing
Jill Jaracz: and he did not sing on the train. I’m guessing
Alison Brown: he did not sing on the train.
Jill Jaracz: Alright. Alright.
Alison Brown: It would’ve made the train ride more fun though. If he had,
Jill Jaracz: I’m sure it would have. I’m sure it would have. Although the train ride’s not bad.
Alison Brown: No, it was very
Jill Jaracz: pleasant. Um,
Alison Brown: best part of my day.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, oh boy. Oh, there we go. Uh, I did forget something after day.
Alison Brown: Yes, I
Jill Jaracz: forgot. [00:02:00] The massive story about my hand sanitizer getting confiscated.
Alison Brown: You were so upset about this, and I think fairly so, because number one, you have carried this hand sanitizer every day.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: Since we’ve been here. Yes. Both Olympics and Paralympics. It has never gotten taken away from you. We have been to this venue now multiple times.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Have never taken your hand sanitizer away. We both went through security. My hand sanitizer not touched yours, confiscated?
Jill Jaracz: Yes, because they asked, and I happened to have chosen that moment, to be honest.
Do you have any hand sanitizer or a lighter or hand sanitizer? And I said, well, I have hand sanitizer. My pocket and, uh, the hand sanitizer needs to stay in my pocket at all times because this place is gross. Okay? All places are gross. If I, because I like to eat, anytime I get a chance to [00:03:00] snack, I do. And I need the hand sanitizer so I don’t have to go find a bathroom.
With likely freezing cold water to wash my hands. And, uh, so they said no, I had to confiscate the hand sanitizer. And I’m like, why? And they said, it’s flammable. And I was angry. I do have a little bit of a temper. I angry and I. Threw the hand sanitizer in their little bucket and it bounced out. Bounced out.
Alison Brown: I saw that and I said, this is not ending well, I’m going to stay out of it,
Jill Jaracz: and, and I said. I’ll come back for it at the end. Can I, can I get it at the end? And they did not believe I would come back for it, but, oh, at the end of the session, you better believe
Alison Brown: you went back for that hand
Jill Jaracz: sanitizer. I ignored all happy volunteers with pointy fingers, foam fingers pointing me toward an exit
Alison Brown: who are getting a little unhappy with you ’cause you weren’t listening to them.
Jill Jaracz: [00:04:00] Did not care. And I went back. I said, can I have my hand sanitizer? And they knew who I was and they knew where that hand sanitizer was, and they reached into that bucket and gave it right back to me.
Alison Brown: Now, you returned to this venue again today?
Jill Jaracz: I did.
Alison Brown: Did they once again confiscate your hand sanitizer?
Jill Jaracz: Well, we’ll get to that because after I had a little snit about my hand sanitizer being taken, the guy who wanted me apologized and he’s like, the, the rules are changing like every 15 minutes. It’s crazy, so Of course, no, of course not. They did not ask if I had hand sanitizer today.
Alison Brown: They learned their lesson not to mess with you.
Jill Jaracz: Well, I, nobody was asking, and they’re all like, they get the attitude every once in a while. Because if I can’t open my pockets of my backpack fast enough, they’re like, open the button, open the back. Okay, fine. What they forget, sometimes they have me open the top front pocket, what they don’t realize or even [00:05:00] see on this massive Beijing 22 backpack, which is still one of the best things we got in Beijing.
Absolutely there is a front pocket.
Alison Brown: Yes,
Jill Jaracz: that is below. And that is one of the reasons why I keep the little front thing on. Oh, so the Beijing backpack has, it’s black, but it has this blue thing on front of it that’s kind of hooked on. And you could probably shove a jacket in there or something that won’t fall.
Something that won’t fall out. ’cause it’s, it’s just made to expand a little bit. I have kept it on a, to know that it’s my backpack. Yes. ’cause everyone takes ’em off and B, it covers up a pocket. Then that pocket tends to open on its own, but it covers a pocket. What they also don’t seem to want to check are these side pockets that I put massive amounts of beverages in
Alison Brown: it.
Yes. And also they don’t go deep.
Jill Jaracz: No.
Alison Brown: They just sort of look in and I’m thinking to myself. I’m not gonna put the gun at the [00:06:00] top of the bag.
Jill Jaracz: Right. You’re not putting a gun in ’cause you don’t have a gun.
Alison Brown: Well, yes, but I’m just saying the weapon of choice. Yes. Whatever that would be. I wouldn’t put it at the top.
So the way the bag searching is done is so useless.
Jill Jaracz: Right, right, right. Because it, because we’re journalists. I think that’s part of it is that it’s now we are just doing it for show when you don’t have an x-ray. Right. Because we don’t have many venues anymore that have x-rays. It’s all hand check.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: And today I did bring in a liter bottle of water ’cause I really needed more water in the mountains and I did pack every, all, all of my food was at the bottom of the front pouch. I put my hat over my water bottle so it was masked. And, and nobody cared. You know who got screwed? The person who brought the full-size bottle of perfume to
Alison Brown: the
Jill Jaracz: curling venue, like who is bringing perfume
Alison Brown: to the curling venue?
I [00:07:00] guess they really think those stones stink. Is it stinky stone day at curling venue?
Jill Jaracz: No, but you see curling cologne. You know, they do. They’ll confiscate beverages and then, and then I’m like, well, you never check my side. You never check my beverage pockets like you use a backpack or some kind of thing.
I am assuming you know that the sides are for beverages. How could you not know that I have four bottles of things in my backpack back at any given time?
Alison Brown: Yeah, and sometimes they feel the bottom. And I’m thinking to myself, what are you trying to feel? ’cause it’s just gonna feel mushy with all my various and sundry pouches in there,
Jill Jaracz: right?
I, I don’t, I don’t get it. This is not, this is not crack. It’s crack security. No, as you say. So it was a very frustrating afternoon, but I did, I felt really good about getting my hand sanitizer back in my pocket where it belongs. Not asked about today at [00:08:00] all.
Alison Brown: Excellent. And now, you know, hand sanitizer is vebo.
Jill Jaracz: Well, I just don’t own it anymore.
Alison Brown: Yeah, it’s just gone. I don’t know what happened to it. It’s with the bottle of perfume that I know you’ve been stashing in your backpack all, all week.
Jill Jaracz: If, if I had a bottle of perfume, my pants would smell better. Okay.
Alison Brown: You know what I really want? I really want a bottle of that shall perfume.
Jill Jaracz: Right. Dior say no more. I. We do have some follow up files. We talked about when we said, shout out to listener Erica, uh, who has an Olympic crafting festival with her friends. How did that go? And she posted in the Facebook group pictures of the blanket she was working on. And then her cat obviously knew when the the cauldron was put out because the cat sat.
The
Alison Brown: cat has sat. On the blanket so that she can no longer continue to make the blanket [00:09:00] right, unless the cat moves and the cat has said You did not finish on time. I find this very disheartening.
Jill Jaracz: That was really good. We had also talked yesterday about the Italian snowboarder, Emmanuel Marathoner, who was an Olympian and became a Paralympian because he has a, a knee replacement, but his knee is now locked. Between 35 and 40 degrees. You can’t bend it any further.
So
Alison Brown: yes, I made kind of an offhand comment that he has a bio bionic knee like Lindsey Vaughn, and people in the Facebook group wondered, oh, does that mean Lindsey Vaughn could be a Paralympian? No, because it has to do with your level of disability. They may have had similar surgeries, but the outcomes or the injuries that they suffered were not.
Similar. So that was my fault for making it confusing to people. So no, Lindsay Vaughn does not have any kind of disability that would qualify her as a Paralympian that we know of at this point.
Jill Jaracz: And also, if you are not in the Facebook group, we did post a picture of the podium people and the pants [00:10:00] that look brown and blue in the sunlight, and there’s a nice little conversation going on there.
So be sure to get in on that. Uh, also what you can get in on is understanding it. It’s been a, it’s been a rough day. I struggled today, uh, that, uh, the, the show is independently produced and there are just two of us trying to do all of the things. And it, it gets very hard. But we do it because we want to bring you what it is like to be at the games for regular people, not people with NBC.
No money, not Snoop Dogg. Not Martha Stewart. Not even
Alison Brown: Stanley Tucci.
Jill Jaracz: No, I was gonna say we’re more like Stanley. Touchy.
That gonna bad?
Do I need to send you back to the [00:11:00] trade station young lady? Probably, probably. Anyway, uh, but putting this show on from Italy does cost money if, and we’d like to ask for your help in making sure our flame can continue. If, uh, you have enjoyed our coverage or not, we’d like you to consider, oh, geez, how can you ask for money at a time like this?
I don’t know, but we could use something ’cause we might have train tickets to buy. Go to flame life pod.com and, and, and help us because clearly we need the help. Oh my gosh. Okay. Flame life pod.com. There’s a little popup that comes up and if you don’t see that, if you’re listening later, we’ll still. Take your help ’cause we gotta get to LA 28 and we gotta get home and we have to [00:12:00] get home.
There’s a little support button up top. Uh, flame ipod.com. Thank you to everybody who has kept our flame alive going on so far and have gotten us here. Uh, we couldn’t be in this state without you. Alright, well we’ve got some results.
Alison Brown: Yes. But you have an adventure to tell me about first. Yes. So you, you went to the mountain today?
I went to Milan, yes. So this is the first day
I
Alison Brown: know that we have, that we’ve separated in that sense. Every other day we’ve gone to the mountain together. At least to start.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: But now we went to separate cities.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: So I will get to talking about my trip to Milan when we get to. Para ice hockey. Yes. So let’s talk about your trip to the mountain.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: Today.
Jill Jaracz: Alright, so we’ll
Alison Brown: all alone.
Jill Jaracz: Well,
Alison Brown: on the bus with Giacomo,
Jill Jaracz: we’ll start with
Alison Brown: how late was Giacomo this morning?
Jill Jaracz: Well, we’ll get to that too. Oh gosh. We’ll start with the email I sent last night to two games, transport, email addresses we have and may I, maybe I [00:13:00] typed one wrong. I didn’t look at that today ’cause it got bounced back because the problem is we are getting to places late.
The transportation’s rough and, we’re getting there very, very late and seeing less competition than we should be able to. The other problem is if we go to Milan, there is a schedule of trains. That happens every day to Milan and back. We are only allowed to go on some of them.
Alison Brown: Yes, very few of them.
In fact,
Jill Jaracz: and that means you are in Milan for a very short time, which I am very interested in hearing how this went. so I wrote them a letter an email and said, Hey, what’s up with this? Basically can, well I asked, you know, can the bus driver. Get on time. I understand that there’s traffic and I understand, you know, I didn’t say sometimes we gotta stop for gas ’cause sometimes we do.
I figured out today that the one break that we have early on where we just stop and sit there. That must be the driver. Mandatory break.
So [00:14:00] Giacomo in the morning, which is what I’m gonna call him now, Giacomo in the morning, uh, was like 15, 20 minutes late. Okay? He was back down. So we did not have to get gas. And we did our break, our mandatory break fine. we did not barrel through the mountains. As fast as we usually do. Um, so he must’ve been on time and, well, he wasn’t on time.
Come on. Let’s, let’s say, let’s go. it felt like we stopped two different places in our litany of stops because we stopped at a train station.
Alison Brown: Oh. We’ve never stopped at a
Jill Jaracz: train station. Okay. Thank you. And, uh, made another stop there. So I was like, oh, train station. This is new and picked up people along the way.
Fine. And we get to, uh. Loves his pop in the morning pop songs he does. He does not love the Morning zoo. ’cause anytime the Morning Zoo came on, he would change the channel.
Alison Brown: He only wants the music,
Jill Jaracz: only wants music. He would even listen to commercials over morning Zoo [00:15:00] stuff. That’s how much he loves. Party in the morning
Alison Brown: in this Giacomo and I are in agreement.
I appreciate the lack of morning zoo,
Jill Jaracz: so I don’t, I, I don’t know if we’re starting to recognize each other. ’cause I was happy with my blonde Rdno ’cause I recognized Giacomo. I
Alison Brown: did he have the cigarette hanging out of his mouth? Yes,
Jill Jaracz: of course. What else would you expect? So we get there and that’s fine. And I get off the bus and.
The, the, we had gotten told, the first time we went to the mountains, they told us how to get to Totani.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: The, the mountain and uh, Paris Snowboard was a different place that we went. Same mountain area. And the bus stop was a different place. And I thought I could take that bus stop and then I was like, no, maybe I should go the way.
Alison Brown: They
Jill Jaracz: told [00:16:00] us the, the, the kind volunteer told us, and that was the right choice.
Alison Brown: Excellent.
Jill Jaracz: For many reasons. And, and I’m already kind of discouraged because Para Alpine got moved up a half an hour today. Yes, it did. Start time got moved up, which meant by the time I got to Corina, I missed all three women’s categories.
I missed the men’s visually impaired and came in halfway through standing. So not thrilled. I’m already really discouraged about a lot of stuff, super discouraged. Now, I don’t know if I’ve made the right transportation choice, ’cause that could mean a long, long walk otherwise. Thankfully the blood pressure tent was open
and I have a lovely reading.
Alison Brown: Oh good. You got a better reading
Jill Jaracz: this
time.
Jill Jaracz: Well, uh, you know, I learned a lot about blood pressure in the mountains, so my reading it was 1 49 over 85,
Alison Brown: which was better than it was a
Jill Jaracz: little bit last time. Yes. And, and I was like, oh boy. [00:17:00] Through a little conversation in the magic of Google Translate, found out that your blood pressure is higher at altitude.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: naturally. So they are looking for the top number to be under one 50 to one 60.
So I am Oh wow. Under that. And the bottom number can be a couple like 20 points up to
Alison Brown: Wow. So. Things you learn,
Jill Jaracz: things I learned, and I think it was the same woman who gave me my blood pressure last time.
Alison Brown: So she was ready for you?
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know if she knew who I was, but I knew who she was and I knew what was happening.
So I did spend a little bit of time getting my blood pressure taken, but that, you know, that meant I just missed the bus to Tani.
Alison Brown: That’s okay.
Jill Jaracz: Of course, uh, this was also the, the thing about going, the way they told us is that you go through security at curling.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: so they do the bag check and they do the, the credential scan [00:18:00] at curling, and then you’re in the cent, the system then, and you get on the bus to Ani, which came like 10 minutes later.
Just like the volunteer told us short bus, passenger bus was like 25, 30 people, maybe Max Max packed in there if you needed to pack ’em in. So that bus can really haul at the mountain that size and, and I won’t call him Enrico and Rico knew we were late because we hauled up that mountain. But it wasn’t bad because the, we were not moving as much mass.
Alison Brown: Right. So you weren’t swinging around.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And making horrific turns. This, this could corner.
Alison Brown: Now the question is, did you then. Skip the gondola.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Yes. And the treacherous hike.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So, um, we did stop at the Paris snowboard part to pick people up and then whipped around [00:19:00] up to the other side of the mountain and it dropped you off right where you need to be.
Okay. Decent marked signage for Press and Press Tribune. Wow, not tabled. We get seats and it was basically kind of ghost sit up there. So you, you do go up. A number of janky staircases.
Alison Brown: My
Jill Jaracz: favorite. Um, I found a seat and then right behind me were a plethora of Dutch people. ’cause there were many Dutch skiers and they just kept coming and I just kept moving and they just kept coming around me and I could not move more.
Because also behind me was some American, I don’t know who it was, but was somehow or involved with the organization. ’cause she was talking about a test event for biathlon that they had here and they said she, she had mentioned, one of the reasons they test stuff and they try to test it at the same time was they figured out that they set up [00:20:00] for para biathlon that they originally had.
Uh, visually impaired by athletes. You, they don’t use a laser gun. They use some kind of light gun and the sun angle was hitting the targets at the same place and was confusing the light from the light gun versus the sun. So they had, they, that was one of the things they figured out from a test event.
Alison Brown: Why you need test events.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly.
Alison Brown: 1 0 1.
Jill Jaracz: so. I got there. I got it, got seated. You and I was, you know, thrilled that I made it to the mountain.
Alison Brown: In one piece.
Jill Jaracz: In one piece. And I gotta say, you could see a decent amount, of course. Excellent. And if you gotta sit and pay attention, and they do have a very big screen with everything.
Oh, oh. We have a new Oscar,
Alison Brown: oh,
Jill Jaracz: his name is Lorenzo Lorenzo, and I couldn’t tell if it was the guy in the booth or if Lorenzo was the [00:21:00] guy down around hyping up the crowd, doing the limbo and, and other sort of things. He was great, but if he wasn’t, he was still there. Were still an Italian guy and everyone, he was jolly.
Then we had a, a British man in house who was just nonstop and the DJ was pumping music. Dj, I do have the name here, DJ Max Mazzoni. ’cause uh, the co the announcer was like, everybody cheer and nobody cheered. If you like the, if you like the music. I liked the music ’cause it was, it was just all the time.
TT
Alison Brown: hum
Jill Jaracz: t. Yeah. Yeah. You were in the club, whatever it was pumping, and every time a skier started, you got the air horn kind of thing. So so you knew to go look. Either at the, the board or you knew somebody was coming down, but, but they were constant talking. It was high energy. [00:22:00] People were excited.
The announcer did make fun of a contingent of the Dutch crowd. Good. Who came in and Well, I think that he called it like boiler uniforms. Like boiler. Oh,
Alison Brown: boiler suits.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alison Brown: I’ve seen the orange boiler suits from the Dutch.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So there was a contingent of those. There were French people in chicken costumes. That were red, white, and blue. ’cause that’s the master rooster.
Costumes rooster, sorry. There were rooster costumes, there were Mexicans with sombreros. There were lots and lots of contingents, lots of fun going on. lots of old people skiing. There were people in forties and fifties for, uh, for sure. And, and he, you know, kind of, I, I can relate to this ’cause I never know what’s coming outta my mouth, but he talked about, oh, form is temporary, class is permanent, and age is just a number. I don’t really [00:23:00] know what that means, but that’s okay. But, but he had to share that with us. Yes. Because he was talking about Michael Milton from Australia, who was, was a six time gold medalist, competed at Albertville, still competing in the Paralympics.
Alison Brown: Oh, geez.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: How is he still alive?
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know, but it was amazing. I think going to watch downhill skiing is just an excuse to dance and drink ‘ cause uh, the Dutch people in front of me all boozing it up. They were having a good old time. Well, that, I’m
Alison Brown: glad to hear that.
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, a lot of fun. But yeah, the course is kind of interesting because if you look really far up, you can see a little peak of it, and then they kind of curve into the trees and then they peek out again and they curve away, and then they’ll eventually come over the ridge and you see like several curves and there’s a pretty big one for, for at least the, the giant slalom course that they had.
That was pretty tough, and you got a nice little jump too. [00:24:00] So it was a tough course. Took out a lot of guys. I know you had in here that the women did not have many DNFs.
Alison Brown: Yes, but the men,
Jill Jaracz: unfortunately the men. Men struggled. The men did. There were, there were getting to be some ruts in the course and a lot of people were getting caught up in that.
So it was nice to be at the mountain. Nice to see the mountain. This is the first time we’ve seen. Para Alpine.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: So that’s exciting.
Alison Brown: And you didn’t get to see Para Alpine in Beijing ’cause you were No. Not going back to that mountain. No. I, I learned
Jill Jaracz: my lesson. I, I distinctly remember you going, I’m going to the mountain.
I said, have fun with that.
Alison Brown: Exactly. So this was your first shot at Power Alpine, so I’m glad it was a
Jill Jaracz: positive experience. Yes, exactly. So highly recommend. Uh, we did have super g all day today. Women’s, uh, visually impaired class. Gold. Went to Kiara Mazel from Italy. Lots of school kids there, so thrilled, so screaming the national anthem.
They were so [00:25:00] proud. It was so cute.
Also, they had a 15 minute protest time before the victory ceremony. They said, here’s the unofficial results. That’s gonna be 15 minutes that you can protest. I did not know this.
Alison Brown: Wow.
Jill Jaracz: Did not have a chance to look into that, but that, well, that was an interesting thing. They did not say end of protest time. The victory ceremonies just started. Hmm. Um, and I have a thing about the victory ceremonies.
You know what the, okay, so they, they had the little welcome in music. They have some kind of grandiose little bit when they actually get their stuff on the podium. And then there’s that ethereal music that we thought was somebody singing. Do you think it’s that the thing that we saw at the opening ceremony?
Alison Brown: Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that.
I
Jill Jaracz: just thought of that today.
Alison Brown: I’ll have to listen to it again. ’cause I will get to hear some, I think. I think I’m going to Alpine tomorrow. I don’t remember.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Is that where I’m going? Yes. You were going to Alpine.
Alison Brown: Um, [00:26:00] so it’ll be interesting if I can, I’ll pay attention then ’cause I’ll hear it and see if, I think it’s the Thein as well.
Jill Jaracz: The podium is a better setup. It is just one ramp, not a ramp that goes with a lip. Yeah. , And, and I think they just have a little bit more space to deal with there. So, and they were pretty snappy. At Alpine.
Alison Brown: Oh, thank goodness.
Jill Jaracz: So not as bad as it as, Paris Snowboard. So, back to, the women’s super g.
Visually impaired silver went to Veronica Ener, or. Of the Ener family plastic of the,
Alison Brown: of the famed
Jill Jaracz: ener, yes. From Austria and Bronze went to Alexandra SVA from Slovakia.
Alison Brown: Yes. We had mentioned, that Elizabeth Ener, one of the many ener siblings, uh, who had been a guide previously was not here this time.
It turns out she has a knee injury and was not able to ski. So that, Veronica had to get a new guide. Kind of at the last minute,
Jill Jaracz: amazing that
Alison Brown: she can ski that well and doing, doing quite well with the gold and the silver. So far,
Jill Jaracz: not bad. Not [00:27:00] bad at all. Moving over to the standing class, A gold went to Russia’s Avara, uh, Veronica Kina, first Russian Gold of the Games.
First time we had six races, six different anthems. It was something, I don’t know how to think about that still.
Alison Brown: I know. Was there any reaction to it?
Jill Jaracz: Um, I, I couldn’t tell. I think where I was standing, a lot of the cheering seemed muted at, at, you could tell that the athletes were excited ’cause there were a good chunk of people along the sideline and the stands were pretty full.
Um, but. I’d hear the people right around me and then nothing else because I think the sound was just directed away from me. But I think the athletes heard it and oh my gosh, the love for some of these athletes was amazing and everybody was clapping for everybody else. It was just, it was a fun, fun time.
So, uh. That was gold. Silver went [00:28:00] to Oral Rashard, which her group all had bibs with her face on it, and some of them were wearing the rooster costumes, a lot of rooster hats. It was lovely. Uh, and then a bronze went to EBA Arjo from Sweden.
Alison Brown: I loved this quote from Rashard. She said, I’m living the dream and it’s beautiful.
When she was talking about her two silver medals, I just love that attitude
Jill Jaracz: from
Alison Brown: her. Yes,
Jill Jaracz: and in the women’s sitting category. Gold went to Spain’s, Audrey Pasquale, Seko Silver went to Japan’s Maka. Maa and Bronze went to Ong from China.
Alison Brown: So the Japanese silver medalist is returning from a broken collarbone that she suffered in November, and she said she’s not totally healed.
Wow. But she’s skiing anyway, and she managed to do okay coming out with a silver medal.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. On the men’s side for visually impaired gold, went to Johannes Ener from Austria, silver. Went to Giacomo [00:29:00] Ragoli from Italy and bronze went to Cal Erickson from Canada. Um. So we got a full set alert.
Alison Brown: I know. So Giacomo Bird, Noli was saying he has a silver and he has a bronze.
So far the only one he’s missing is the goal and he, that’s his goal for tomorrow is to get that full set, which I say Giacomo, we are with you in that.
Jill Jaracz: Bye bye. Bye. Bye bye.
Alison Brown: Yeah, absolutely. And he and Agner apparently have quite a rivalry, but it’s very friendly and, and Agner described it as amusing.
Which I thought was an interesting word to choose. I hope that’s just sort of a language thing that he called it an amusing rivalry,
Jill Jaracz: in the standing, uh, class for the men, which I came in partway through. And, part of it was the course was closed for injury. Somebody had fallen. I don’t know what happened to him, but there were several people who were going out near the top of the course, a couple wipe outs at the bottom.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: [00:30:00] those are the worst. It’s just the worst. Like, oh, you just missed the gate. That was tough. the gold went to, uh, Robin Kush from Switzerland, so now he’s got a second gold big party at Swiss. Yeah,
Alison Brown: they, they sent us an email yesterday about the first party. Yes. So now there’s gonna be another party
Jill Jaracz: and uh, the bus went past Swiss house and boy does it look nice.
It’s a nice looking building. So, yeah. May, may have to try to stop by if they’re open during the afternoon. Uh, silver went to Patrick Hallgren from USA who was thrilled. Oh my gosh. You could not ham it up anymore on the podium. And Franz went to Jules Segar from France.
Alison Brown: So Hare is the first medal for the US in standing super g in over 20 years.
Whoa. So he deserves to ham it up as much as possible. And I thought this was interesting. Robin Kush has been competing since Sochi. 2014, but he was a teenager.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: He’s still [00:31:00] only 27 years old.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: And so these are the first, these two that he’s won this time around are the first medals that he’s won, despite having been in multiple Paralympics.
Mm-hmm. But he’s basically competing as a child.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: And now he’s actually a grownup and, and really coming into his own.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Wow, wow. And what is amazing to me about. These skiers is that they’re still going like 60 some kilometers an hour.
Alison Brown: Oh, yeah. They’re not crawling down these tracks. No, no, no, no. The, and
Jill Jaracz: the, the course does look a little tough.
So that, I mean, this, this is good racing. This is really good racing.
Alison Brown: You know, that’s what we were so frustrated with, with the, the, the simplicity of the snowboard. Mm-hmm. Course. Mm-hmm. They, these athletes deserve better. Yeah. So I’m glad to hear that this is a difficult course because you want the paralympic course to be challenging, right?
You want it to be the best of the best.
Jill Jaracz: And I will say it looks difficult through my eyes, so hopefully it’s difficult for the, [00:32:00] the athletes as well. Um, in the sitting class, uh, Jaron Camp Schroer from Netherlands won gold.
Alison Brown: Oh, your Dutch must have been thrilled.
Jill Jaracz: Oh yeah. We had multiple contingents of Dutch for different racers.
And they were all over the place with banners, with massive hats, with tons of stuff, the orange boiler suits, and, uh, they were living life. It was, it was really great to see, Yesper Pederson from Norway who we talked about. Uh, yesterday he got the silver and Andrew Kirka from the US got the bronze.
Alison Brown: Yes.
And he was, uh, disqualified yesterday in the downhill from missing a gate. So that was super frustrating for him. So he came back today with this idea that I have to redeem myself. And also he didn’t meddle in Beijing after winning two medals in Pyeongchang. So this was a big redemption for him.
Jill Jaracz: Nice,
Alison Brown: nice.
On many levels.
Jill Jaracz: Nice. Uh, hometown hero. Renee Di [00:33:00] Silvestro from Italy finished fourth. We on the road up see P posters for him on the houses.
Alison Brown: Yes. We saw a bunch of flags with the name Renee painted on it. Yes. And I figured it was one of the athletes up here, but it’s nice to know who that is.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, exactly.
And his contingent had like. Little hats on. Just lots of stuff. But it was really cool. Um, and then we had seven did not finish, including Kurt Oay from Canada who medaled yesterday. So a little frustrating day for him.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Now ice hockey.
Alison Brown: So before we get to ice hockey, let’s talk about getting to ice hockey.
Jill Jaracz: Do tell,
Alison Brown: do, tell. So this morning. Because of the limited trains, I could not get a train until 11 o’clock in the morning’s, a two plus hour train ride, which means I don’t get there until one 30 and the game, one game is already over by then, and the second game is already started. So right off the bat, [00:34:00] I’m in a hole.
So I did go and talk to the games desk at about eight 30 this morning hoping they were gonna tell me, oh no, I could give you a ticket for one of the earlier train. No, I cannot give you a ticket for the earlier trains. You have to pay 50 euros and get it yourself self. So 11 o’clock was the earliest train I could take.
Took the train. Then I had to find the metro from where the train let me off.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: At Central, which I had never done before. So that Oh, okay. Got a little. Confusing. Mm-hmm. So I wasted a lot of time doing that.
Jill Jaracz: No, I, I know how my Central’s got like a whole mall underneath.
Alison Brown: It’s huge. I mean, it’s Grand Central Station.
So when you’re trying to get from one track to another set, you know, if you’ve been to Grand Central Station or your city’s equivalent, where the trains come in and where the subways are is not always as apparent, especially not when you have to go to Yama Ma and Sephora. In between. [00:35:00] So get on the subway, know what I’m doing at that point.
Nice to be back in Milan.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah,
Alison Brown: and knowing where I’m going and knowing what’s happening. In the two weeks since we left, the entire city has blossomed.
Jill Jaracz: Oh.
Alison Brown: So there are flowers out. The trees are in bloom. I cannot believe how much it changed in two weeks. Oh, it, it’s amazing. Get to the subway station where the shuttles are.
Get on my shuttle, everything is going well. They move the shuttle stop so that it’s closer.
Jill Jaracz: Oh,
Alison Brown: so there was less walking
Jill Jaracz: Wait. Less walking. Oh, to at? At the The stadium.
Alison Brown: At the stadium. Oh. So it’s all the way down that strip.
Jill Jaracz: Oh,
Alison Brown: so that whole first section of walking that you had to do. Yeah. Eliminated.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: Because there’s so many fewer people.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alison Brown: So we’re going through my, security, quick, simple, boom, boom. Off I go. Uh, media Tribune, right where it was supposed to be sort of [00:36:00] because they moved what? Were not tabled seats.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay.
Alison Brown: Tabled seats were all taken. Oh, okay. I don’t know who all these people are, but the tabled seats were all taken.
So I had a non tabled seat. Um, but then they told me I could sit on the TV tables.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, nice.
Alison Brown: So I was, because she said, there’s nobody here. You can sit at those tables Nice. If you want to. And I said, yes, I want to. Got there at the beginning of the second period. Oh my gosh. Of the second game.
Jill Jaracz: I know where this is going ’cause I see the timetable.
Alison Brown: At the end. So I got to see the second period and I got to see the third period, and then it was time for me to go,
Jill Jaracz: that is ridiculous,
Alison Brown: to catch the last train back
Jill Jaracz: that we are allowed to be on,
Alison Brown: that we are
Jill Jaracz: allowed to be on leader trains, but we’d have to pay 50 euros for them.
Alison Brown: Yes. Each way.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my gosh,
Alison Brown: yes. So I got to see two thirds of a game.
Jill Jaracz: [00:37:00] And not the, today’s games were not very good.
Alison Brown: Today’s games were not good. I saw Slovakia and Ch The, and Czechia and Czechia won eight to one and it’s as lopsided as it sound, but it was a lot of fun. There was probably about a thousand spectators.
Okay, good. And they were loud.
Jill Jaracz: Nice.
Alison Brown: Very check you heavy, but there was a good Slovak contingent, so when they did score a goal, they got to light it up, which was good. Several school groups.
Jill Jaracz: Nice.
Alison Brown: Which always make it fun when the kids are there because they just get so excited when anything happens. They don’t care who wins.
They’re not cheering for anyone in particular. They’re just cheering for cool stuff. Mm-hmm. So any goal was exciting to them. A couple of the, the Czech goals came very, very quickly after one another. Like the song had just ended and then they, my God, they scored again. So it was a little insulting in, in that sense.
But it’s a great arena. Santa Julia, even though it’s not finished
Jill Jaracz: right.
Alison Brown: It was a little more finished than two weeks [00:38:00] ago.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: So they have been doing things because in the, uh, media rooms and the bathroom that’s near the media room was much less done. Than it was this time around.
Jill Jaracz: Oh.
Alison Brown: Like the floor had been finished.
It wasn’t just like the, the, the, the raw cement, they had put the coating on top of it.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, wow.
Alison Brown: So, yeah, they have been working in the past two weeks since we have been there trying to get this, uh, Santa Julia Arena completed. Um, the temporary seating is still there.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well, uh, yeah,
Alison Brown: that’s gonna, that they have to wait until they can dismantle that whole side of the wall.
But it still has a great atmosphere. It’s a great place to see a hockey game. I can’t argue with that.
Jill Jaracz: That is good.
Alison Brown: So, yes. Then I came back, couldn’t scan in to the, but it was okay because our tickets don’t have QR codes. Oh,
Jill Jaracz: right, right, right.
Alison Brown: So in general, to get on the platform at Central, you need to have a [00:39:00] QR code.
So I just went to the NICE employee and I said, Ze. And she said, no promo. So she sent me to the next person.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: Who did speak English, and I showed her my ticket and she said, oh, here, let me let you in. So that was all fine. Everything went smoothly in my travels. I just got to see an hour of hockey
Jill Jaracz: for five, five hours
Alison Brown: for five plus hours of travel.
Actually more than that, because each of the way, so probably closer to seven hours of travel altogether.
Jill Jaracz: That’s ridiculous. I do. I mean, my guess if I had to Jessica Fletcher, this would be that train. Italia said, yeah, we’re gonna partner with you, but we don’t wanna give you rush hour access.
Alison Brown: It seems like it’s all off peak.
Yes. Trains that were, that we’re using.
Jill Jaracz: That doesn’t matter. We’re happy to [00:40:00] have whatever, but it does matter,
Alison Brown: right.
Jill Jaracz: When you can’t do your job
Alison Brown: right, it’s, it’s fine. If you’re a volunteer and you’re going back and forth between the cities on your days off, it’s fine If you’re gonna be in Venice for a few days and then just going back to Milan, it’s not fine if you’re trying to actually do any of these commutes.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: And at least the bus up to Cortina. I mean, it leaves at seven 30. It it,
Jill Jaracz: yeah. It’s just, it’s a long ride.
Alison Brown: Not it’s a long ride. There’s not much else you could do, but they do get us there pretty early for roast things.
Jill Jaracz: Right, right, right. If it left at seven, that would be nicer.
Alison Brown: And if it actually left at seven 30, that would also be helpful.
Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: that would be helpful. Oh boy. So scores for, uh, para ice hockey today. China be Italy. 11 to one USA beat Germany, 13 to zero out shot them 41 to one. And Declan Farmer, first [00:41:00] American to reach 50 goals.
Alison Brown: And I think he did it in the last two games.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah,
Alison Brown: I
Jill Jaracz: seriously,
Alison Brown: because it was 14 to one and now 13.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. He got, he got a ton of stuff, so, and this is 50 goals in Paralympic play alone. So good on you, Declan.
Alison Brown: And in the Japanese, uh, in the Japan, Canada game, it is period three and it is nine. Nothing Canada.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. And what I haven’t been able to see, ’cause I had that up for a little while, if, uh, Japan has a woman on their team, one of the few women,
Alison Brown: yes.
I don’t know if she’s actually hit the ice yet. I haven’t been able to find that information.
Jill Jaracz: Alright, wheelchair curling. Today we had, uh, two sessions of team curling and one of doubles and it was the final round robin for doubles. So with the team, we had Korea beat Great Britain, seven six USA beat Sweden, seven, one in seven ends Canada beat Lavia in 11, one in six ends, uh, Italy beat Slovakia 10, nothing in six ends.[00:42:00]
China beat Norway. 11 two in.
Alison Brown: Seven ends because in that seventh end, China scored five.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: So up until that point, they were still with Norway was still within reach, but after a five oh boy shot end, there’s not much you can do,
Jill Jaracz: right? Uh, Korea beat Slovakia seven five. Sweden beat Great Britain six five, and Latvia beat us eight, six.
So we have some standings now.
Alison Brown: Yes. So Canada and China are four and oh, some teams have played four, some teams have played five. So Sweden is four and one, Korea is three and two Latvia, Slovakia and the USA are all two and three. Italy is one and three. Great Britain is one in four, and Norway is oh and four.
Jill Jaracz: Alright. And then in doubles, which I did get to see, uh, Latvia beat Japan, 10, four and seven ends. Italy beat Great Britain, 1110 in extra end. Saw a rare high five, a Berto [00:43:00] fist pump. Italy was ahead throughout a good chunk of the match, and Great Britain came back forcing that extra end, which was like, I looked over and went, oh. Great Britain caught up.
What happened? at the end they were blowing kisses. Didn’t to the Italians?
Alison Brown: Yeah. They didn’t make the, uh, the semi-finals. No. So this would’ve been their last match Exactly. To thank the crowd. Of course. Course. And the crowd has been with them through the whole round robin. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Great crowd for them.
Great crowd for Japanese. Great crowd for Koreans. There were a few Chinese Laura Dwyer’s family
Alison Brown: cheering by
Jill Jaracz: the
Alison Brown: themselves.
Jill Jaracz: Still cheering it up. That was great. Korea beat Estonia 10 zero Estonia conceded after the sixth. ’cause they realized shocking. It was, it was not, nothing was gonna happen.
And then us b uh, was playing China and China is undefeated. Until today. Until today. Oh my gosh. This was amazing. [00:44:00] Us got four points in the first three ends and I was like, good. We’re, you know, gotta rack that up early ’cause I know China can come back and boy did they. And uh, they tied it up in the fourth, just bam, bam, bam, like that.
And they went back and forth and it came down to the very last stone. And it was a nailbiter. It was such a good match and. This is the final round Robin standings. China was six one. They automat, they qualified before this, this game, but then you had. USA, Korea and Latvia at four three Great Britain at three four in Japan at three, four, and then Estonia and Italy at two and five.
They, the last two teams, obviously not making it,
Alison Brown: but that whole middle three and four, four and three could have flipped very easily.
Jill Jaracz: There were 16 different possibilities for the semifinals.
Alison Brown: I can believe
Jill Jaracz: it. It was crazy. And so. It, it’s China and then the three teams that are four and three. But how do you seed them?
They went to what’s called [00:45:00] the draw shot challenge. And so what that is is when they’re doing, um, their last stone draw ahead of the game to determine who gets the hammer, they measure how close to the center the shots are. You drop your two low scores and then you calculate the average distance to the center of the house, and the lower your DSC score is the higher ranking you have.
So the USA had the best ranking in all of that. They had 89.717 centimeters, so they are ranked second. Korea is ranked third. 142.
Alison Brown: It’s a big difference.
Jill Jaracz: It’s a huge difference. And then Lavia had just over one 50.
Alison Brown: So this allows the United States not to have to play China in the semifinal.
Jill Jaracz: That’s a good thing.
Alison Brown: So China will play Latvia and the USA will play Korea.
Jill Jaracz: It’s gonna be good.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: I mean this, what’s amazing to me is that Japan didn’t make it through.
Alison Brown: I know [00:46:00] they were such a good team,
Jill Jaracz: so, uh, sad
Alison Brown: that that last loss. Yeah, just flipped it the other way. Exactly. Korea’s tough. Korea is tough. They’re very tough.
They’re a tough pair.
Jill Jaracz: China’s tough. So I’m in the mix zone and Laura came around first and we’re waiting for Steve and Steve’s, you can hear him talking across on the other side of the wall to the broadcast people. And then he stopped. He was talking to China tv, broadcast something or other. And he’s trying to learn Chinese words.
They want him to say stuff in Chinese, and Laura’s like, what is he doing? Go, go get him. And, and he’s saying stuff in Chinese and then he is like, what did I just say? Don’t,
Alison Brown: it’s like, don’t say it Steve, without knowing what you’re saying,
Jill Jaracz: but they came around, they were obviously happy, but like, okay. If I’m feeling bad, I just need to listen to some Steve and Laura talk.
Oh, oh my gosh. I know. It’s a good
Alison Brown: way to end your day.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, [00:47:00] it was a great way to end the day. The breathing talk that they, they do. Um, they’ve talked about this all throughout the competition where the, they like to breathe in between ends. So they’ll breathe in for four, they’ll hold it for four, they’ll exhale for four, and then I think they like rest for four.
And it’s, . Some sort of special technique, which I have on tape. I’m hoping to dig out my tape at some point soon. but uh, that really helps ’em center themselves. It helps them just focus on the now and they approach every end. Like once the end is over, they don’t think about it. They don’t think about what’s coming up.
They just think about what’s going on right now, and they are so happy and so thrilled about everything. Here, he’s, somebody asked about the village. I wake up and I see the mountains. You know what could be better than that? Everybody’s great. Everything is fantastic. They are living it up. And Steve says, he’s like, I don’t [00:48:00] remember my first Paralympics.
It’s all a blur. And then Beijing was a really tough one for him,
Alison Brown: right?
Jill Jaracz: And Laura said, well, I don’t want my first Paralympics to be a blur, so I need to remember all of this.
Alison Brown: Well, the good news is that in her first Paralympics, they’ve made the semis.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: Is the big move. So that will be tomorrow?
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Which you will be at,
Alison Brown: which I will get myself back down the mountain in time. Four. Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Because isn’t that the, the middle of the day game?
Alison Brown: It is, it’s at 2 35. Okay. So I may miss the end of the alpine because of the two races to get back down at an appropriate, an appropriate time to make sure I see that whole watch.
You
Jill Jaracz: know, granted the, they started Alpine a half an hour early. But I watched all six medal ceremonies. And got down the, and looked for the media center tomorrow and got down the mountain.
Alison Brown: Tomorrow though is the two race day where the second races don’t start until 1230.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, forget that. Then get down to [00:49:00] curling man.
Get yourself a seat.
Alison Brown: Exactly.
Jill Jaracz: Alright. Speaking of, we do have other shuk ani parts of, uh, members of Team Keith, the Flame Alive, who are competing tomorrow.
Alison Brown: Yes. Jake Ticoff, Oxana Masters Aaron Pike and Sydney Peterson are in varying configurations of the Sprint Classic races tomorrow of cross country skiing.
And then team USA and all our various and sundry players there will face China and para ice hockey. Oh, that maybe finally, that won’t be a blowout. I’m hoping. That’ll be an interesting game.
Jill Jaracz: I’m hoping. I’m hoping I’ll go and see a portion of it, a
Alison Brown: portion of it.
Jill Jaracz: Then I’ll be. And join the, the countryside of Italy for five hours.
Alison Brown: It’s, it’s a nice train ride. And I didn’t get a little sandwich this time. I got peanuts and cookies. Oh, that’s
Jill Jaracz: interesting.
Alison Brown: So a little variation and No, no Prosecco.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. So they do, on the class that we get, they have service on the train and you get it once. ’cause they do come down and come by. [00:50:00] And the first time I took the train, they were like, no, you’ve had service before.
So they’ve got a beverage cart and they give you snacks and a little hand wipe. So I’ve gotten various forms of, sometimes it’s two sandwiches, sometimes it’s two things of cookie or cracker. And um, it’s different every time. Sometimes they have prosecco or wine in the beverage cart. Surprise, right.
Always a surprise. Always a good time. But I’m excited to see Mulan again.
Alison Brown: It’s beautiful. It’s still beautiful.
Jill Jaracz: And I wanna go back if, if there’s time, there’s not gonna be time, but not that far from trolley is, uh, two apartment buildings that are towers that are like covered in trees. And it, you could, I went and saw them because I wanted to take a picture and you could tell that when it was, when the leaves were coming out, it was going to be stunning, but it looked pretty bad,
Alison Brown: barren
Jill Jaracz: bad in gray winter.
So looking forward to that [00:51:00] and seeing everything that Milan has to offer. Like we saw those the, when we were talking to people we were trading pins with yesterday, they said, oh, Cortina is beautiful, but Milan is cool.
Alison Brown: I think that’s a perfect description of the two.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So, and we have shout outs today.
Alison Brown: We do. So first up is Patrick Riley in Dallas, and he wished us good luck to you both and thanks for the ground reports and vacuum stories we all love.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, special to Patrick, who I saw, had posted, he tried to get the cauldron, the 1956 cauldron and pitchers, but it’s co, it’s behind fencing. I was able to get, get it because.
You can see it pretty well in the area. We have to go in behind from when we go to the media center or to the mix zone out to the street. Wait, from in curling? It’s at the curling curl. Curl. Oh, it’s a
Alison Brown: curling.
Jill Jaracz: It’s at the curling stadium outside, but it’s behind, it’s kind of by some toilets. And it’s behind wall.
It’s behind. [00:52:00] Uh. Fencing and that’s wrapped. Of course it’s by toilets. Where else would it be?
Alison Brown: Where else would you put a historic cauldron
Jill Jaracz: or where else would you put toilets?
Alison Brown: That’s true.
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, I did. Look for that today. Found it and was able to take a nice picture through the fence. So I will be posting that up.
Alison Brown: Excellent.
Jill Jaracz: And uh, Patrick, like Patrick Hallgren from the USA, who is in para Alpine all events and won the silver medal today, as we said, and he has also competed in 2022. So you’ve got someone to cheer for Patrick.
Alison Brown: Next up is Max in Seattle.
Jill Jaracz: Like Max Nelson from the USA who is a para Nordic skier ski cross country was in 2022.
He will be racing in the sprint classic 10 K and 20 K in the visually impaired class here at Milano Cortina. And last up is Mais. There’s no thank you mom. And there’s no ris, but there’s an [00:53:00] Natalia subro from Poland.
Alison Brown: Pretty close.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, pretty close. It’s J-A-R-O-S-Z. So not It’s
Alison Brown: got the z.
Jill Jaracz: Yes,
Alison Brown: it’s got the Z.
The Z is the key there.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, uh, she’s in, uh, Paris snowboard and is doing both events, so thank you Ma. I know you’re not listening, but if you were and you decided to try to figure out YouTube, you could watch her. Compete in the banks sla could, could you see my mother on a snowboard?
Alison Brown: I actually, I could. Jill, why are you making me do this? Whose idea was this? Honey?
Jill Jaracz: Alright, and we have a mascot.
Alison Brown: Yes. Raise a Hawkeye from Book Club Claire. So thank you very much. Book Club Claire for sharing gorgeous reason with us. Her picture will be in the newsletter coming out tonight. And thank you, Claire, for helping us with everything that you.
Do for the show and for supporting the fundraiser.
Jill Jaracz: [00:54:00] Yes. Thank you so much. And that is going to do it for this episode. If you would like, I can’t even read my own script with a straight face.
Alison Brown: If you want more of us,
Jill Jaracz: if you want the most fun coverage on the games, hit us up. We’re at flame ipod.com. That is your source for our socials newsletter and direct ways to contact us.
Be in our Facebook group for sure. That’s where we’re posting things first, and we’re chatting with people and, uh, our Patreon people are still getting photos and sometimes videos. I hit my, uh. Limit on data. Nice. So now I’m, I’m not making videos on the buses, so we gotta get wifi on the train tomorrow.
So there you go. Alright. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for what we forgot to tell you about today.
Alison Brown: And until next time, CIA. And keep the flame alive.