It’s Day 4 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics! Alison headed to the mountains, and Giacomo in the Morning provided a new type of bus experience to perhaps enjoy. She’s got the story from para Alpine skiing, where the combined event was happening.
Alison also headed to the Cortina Curling Stadium to watch TKFLASTAN’s Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer battle Korea in the semifinals. They’ve made it to the medal rounds, but what color are they playing for?
Meanwhile, Jill had the six-hour commute to watch two periods of para ice hockey, but they were good ones, as the USA faced China. While the crowd heard a lot of “Free Bird,” but China did manage to score, which meant we got the answer to what China’s goal song is–and we couldn’t be happier!
Plus, TKFLASTAN has a great day at para cross-country skiing!
Sports on today’s program:
- Para Alpine skiing
- Para cross-country skiing
- Para ice hockey
- Wheelchair curling
Support our Grande Finale 150! In order to cover the para ice hockey medal games, and actually be in the arena when they happen, we need to buy our own train tickets. At the end of the Games, we’re at the end of our budget, but we need $150 to make this happen. Please chip in and help us get back to Milano to give para ice hockey the coverage it deserves!
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
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 Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.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 4
Jill Jaracz: [00:00:00] Bonno and welcome to Keep the Flame Alive. Day four, coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games. I’m your host, Jill Jaracz, coming to you from Stan House in Venetia. Tre joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Allison Ciao,
Alison Brown: Comos I, and it’s still only day four.
Jill Jaracz: That’s true.
It’s been a very long four days. It’s the Paralympics that will never end, but not that we don’t want them to end [00:01:00] competition wise,
Alison Brown: no. The competition is amazing. We just are as tired of being on buses and trains for extended periods of time.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, I don’t know how long haul truck drivers do it. I don’t know how anybody with a massively long commute does it all the time.
It’s, it’s tough. This one’s, this one’s taken a toll
Alison Brown: and. It’s not like I can read a novel while I’m commuting. I’m still trying not to be sick.
Jill Jaracz: I know,
Alison Brown: I mean, Dramamine is a wonder drug, but I’m not gonna push it by, you know, reading a book on the bus.
Jill Jaracz: I have, uh, I took a book from a little free library in Venice and, uh, off the island and.
I am slowly working my way through it. I thought it would be a quicker read. Part of it is the bus is, is too back and forth, and part of it is, it’s a not well written. Oh no, I’ll say that, but it’s, it’s enough to entertain me and distract me for a little while.
Alison Brown: I just sleep on the bus now. Oh, that’s good.
That’s good. That’s mostly my [00:02:00] bus activity is sleeping.
Jill Jaracz: Well, we forgot yesterday to talk about your takeout pizza adventure.
Alison Brown: So I don’t know how much of an adventure it was, but I went to Milan yesterday, so I was home earlier than than you, and I was so hungry, and I do have a little bit of food still that we got at the grocery store, but I said, no, I want something.
So I went to Michelle’s across the street from the hotel and I looked at what they had and they had some lovely looking fungi pizza, at least I thought it was fungi, but it was actually fungi and some kind of meat, which. Ended up being quite lovely.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And I still had some for tonight.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And, and, um,
Alison Brown: because they cut it in an odd way.
Jill Jaracz: They did because you offered some to me. Yes. So I did not heat up my food. Yesterday I partake partook in pizza and I pulled, there were two slices, so I pulled them out and they did all come. Okay. So
Alison Brown: what happened was it was two slices that [00:03:00] she then cut in half, uh, vertically. Making four slices, but then she cut all four of those slices, horizontally chunks.
Jill Jaracz: So
Alison Brown: you had kind of chunks,
Jill Jaracz: kind of a party cut as we would call it?
Alison Brown: Is that what you call that? I just call it weird. It
Jill Jaracz: Midwestern. Yeah, it’s, well, I call that, I, I call it weird on a, on a pizza like that. If it was thinner, it wasn’t
Alison Brown: square,
Jill Jaracz: it was a thinner crust, maybe it’d be a little bit more normal to me.
Um. But it was, I was like, Ooh, you went and got a pizza. I was
Alison Brown: so hungry. I hadn’t had a real meal in, in like two or three days. So true. I just wanted something and I did it again today. I didn’t get pizza today, but I did get a media center food today. Oh,
Jill Jaracz: did
Alison Brown: you? Just wanted a meal. I’m finding myself needing a meal and today I had pasta with vegetarian meatballs.
That was also quite tasty.
Jill Jaracz: The, the, I will say the venue media center food is quite nice.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: When you’re in the, when you can get the [00:04:00] hot meal, like getting food at the hockey venue. Can be a little frightening ’cause it’s all microwaved. Right? And some of it’s seafood.
Alison Brown: Oh.
Jill Jaracz: And it was like, uh, when I went to try to order like a chicken cutlet sandwich, they tried to give me a bowl with a couple, uh, like a bowl of something with a couple of shrimp on top.
And a, I wouldn’t. Not a huge fan of shrimp anyway, but be really not a fan of microwave shrimp. That just sounded so awful to me. Yeah. Anyhow, um,
Alison Brown: I have a feeling I’ll be going back to the media center tomorrow ’cause I am just all of a sudden really hungry. It’s like not eating for.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah,
Alison Brown: the first four days kind of, that was caught up to me.
Jill Jaracz: Um, so did you wait for it while you were there? Like how long did it take to make this pizza? Was it like pre-made and they just heated it up?
Alison Brown: It, it was pre-made and they just put it in the oven to make it hot. Okay. So I was only there a few minutes. Okay. But they were lovely in there. I would, I, I make go back.[00:05:00]
Jill Jaracz: Alright. All right. Uh, today you went up to the mountain, so how was your ride?
Alison Brown: Um, I had a little bit of an adventure today because our train friend was on the bus today,
Jill Jaracz: our train friend.
Alison Brown: From that we interviewed at Verona. Oh really? Yes. One of our, one of our girls was there. Oh. So she was taking a ride up to Cortina today.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, very
Alison Brown: nice. So we got to chat a, a little bit more and I got to give her another pin. ’cause apparently there was a child who loved the look of our pin.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: So she had to trade for that one. So she said, do you have another one? And I said, yes, I do for you. Anything.
Jill Jaracz: So, so how was Giacomo in the morning?
Alison Brown: Um, he was 20 minutes late.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: And he tried to make up for it by not stopping at stops that people needed.
Jill Jaracz: No way.
Alison Brown: So we passed by San Vito and suddenly the woman goes. He didn’t stop and she goes downstairs [00:06:00] and starts arguing with him that she needed to stop at San Vito and he didn’t stop, and he’s trying to convince her that he stopped.
He just didn’t wait for her to get off the bus and she didn’t say anything, but we all knew he. Didn’t stop. Wow. ’cause he was so far behind schedule.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: Because we also had an air stop earlier. So during our long stop that we think is for his break
Jill Jaracz: mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: The tire needed to get filled.
Jill Jaracz: Ooh.
Alison Brown: Which was very disconcerting.
When you’re filling a tire and you’re going up the mountain
Jill Jaracz: and, and you have people on the, did you have to stay on the bus or did you have to get off the bus?
Alison Brown: We were on the bus. I, I don’t think anybody else noticed. What was happening because of where they were sitting. I was sitting toward the front and on the side of the tire being
Jill Jaracz: wow
Alison Brown: filled.
So that was, and there was a lot of arguing going on there between the two men. Because Giacomo always has a friend with him.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: And [00:07:00] I don’t really know what his role. Is in this operation. The
Jill Jaracz: morning, other morning zoo guy. Maybe that’s why Giacomo doesn’t like Morning Zoo on radio. ’cause he’s busy doing it in real life.
Alison Brown: Exactly. So there was a lot of yelling between the two of them while this tire was getting filled. Geez. So that was a little disturbing, but I just put my trust in the, in Giacomo and the mountain and somehow we made it up.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: We have never been on time. Once in the bus. I didn’t even know what time the bus was supposed to get there.
Jill Jaracz: It just gets there when Giacomo says
Alison Brown: it gets there. When Giacomo says exactly. But on the ride home, we had a new driver.
Jill Jaracz: Oh,
Alison Brown: and I’m gonna call him Marco, and he was quite handsome.
Jill Jaracz: Ooh.
Alison Brown: And he was very smooth.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: And I mean, in his driving, not in his personality. I have no idea what his personality was, but he also liked to talk on the phone and listen to pop music.
Jill Jaracz: I think they all like listening to pop music.
Alison Brown: And talking on [00:08:00] the phone. So, but he, he got us home early. Nice. We got back about a quarter of when we’re supposed to get back on the hour, but yeah, he was lovely. Very. So Marco is added to our, our pantheon of drivers here.
Jill Jaracz: All right. Um, I did take the train today and uh, perfectly fine.
It’s lovely. And when I got. And when I was coming back, I got onto my car. I’m like, whoa, it’s hot in here. And. I took my seat and, and it could have, and I thought, well, it might be because I actually dressed for hockey this time.
Alison Brown: You never, it’s so hard to dress for any of these things. Yes. I was cold in curling today.
I was comfortable up in Alpine and then I was cold at curling.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, so I actually did wear break out my base layer for the first time.
Alison Brown: Nice.
Jill Jaracz: And wore my city pants, which are not fleecy or anything on the inside. So that’s why I put the base layer on ’cause I [00:09:00] figured there are fewer people gonna be in this venue.
I better, it’s gonna be colder and uh, had a couple layers on top and my coat. And except for I didn’t really need it ’cause it did hoof up the stairs because I was late.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: And didn’t know whether, I couldn’t remember if the elevator was quick or not, so I was just like, go, you see the stairs there and you know the elevator somewhere, you can never find it.
Um, but speaking of that elevator, which has a mirror in it, and it was immediately broken. The Olympic hockey. Did you notice that?
Alison Brown: I did not. I must
never
Alison Brown: have seen it.
Jill Jaracz: It’s got, well, next time you go in there, it’s got like red and white danger tape. Not danger. It doesn’t say danger, but red and white tape covering the cracks in the mirror.
It’s huge. Oh my gosh. Uh, so. I am sitting there and the, the conductor comes by and she starts talking to me in Italian. ’cause apparently I now look Italian enough and, or my one journos And Bueno airs [00:10:00] are good enough that they just start talking to me Italian. And she says stuff to me in Italian. I’m like, huh.
And, and then she has to break it out in English. And she said there’s a problem with the car. It’s too hot. Like, well good, it’s not me. We’re gonna move you to business class.
Alison Brown: Nice.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And she said, this is your wagon number and your car, your seat number. If you wanna move, you can move. Uh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
And
Alison Brown: you
Jill Jaracz: said,
Alison Brown: I’m moving
Jill Jaracz: right now. I am moving. And I had already gotten my service for that. So. So did
Alison Brown: you get double service?
Jill Jaracz: I did get double service and I got
Alison Brown: nice
Jill Jaracz: in. My seat. I had gotten water and nuts and cookies.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: And then when I moved out to business class and my seat was taken, but then I was like, not gonna fuss over that there was a single seat open.
I’ll take a single seat any day. And, uh, service came by and got a glass of wine.
Alison Brown: Oh, look at you.
Jill Jaracz: And a [00:11:00] sandwich. Which, you know, that means I have food for tomorrow.
Alison Brown: Oh. I’m telling.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I know. So that was, that was fun.
Alison Brown: That was your adventure for the day.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. Um, I noticed in the Substack you were like, we haven’t seen Milo.
I saw
Alison Brown: Milo at Alpine yesterday. Did he? I saw Milo at Alpine today, just very, very briefly. He came out, he danced for a few minutes, took a couple pictures, and then disappeared.
Jill Jaracz: Huh. I wonder where he’s going.
Alison Brown: I don’t know. Up and down the mountain on his tail apparently.
Jill Jaracz: Milo, we need more of. You may, maybe they’re not Liv letting him come out very much because you can’t buy him.
Alison Brown: He cannot be bought.
Jill Jaracz: At least not here, not here. Sold out. Um, I did go by, uh, when I was coming back, I had a couple of minutes to wander around a little bit, so I, I did wanna see what Milano Central looked like out front, because there had been, [00:12:00] uh, a pavilion that’s gone long gone and, but the. There’s a store there too.
So I went into the store Ho Slim Picket in the store. Hmm. Like almost empty racks. They had, uh, some board games. ’cause there’s a game of the games that’s kind of cute. There’s some pins, there’s some key chains, but there’s not much going on. Hmm. So I feel bad for everybody who wants Paralympic merchandise ’cause it ain’t bad.
Alison Brown: Too bad for you.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And and the, the merch, the, the clothing that was there was mostly Olympic. And
Alison Brown: there wasn’t a lot of Paralympic gear anyway. But on the other hand, a lot of it just said Milano. Corina 2026. Yes. Which kind of covers all grounds.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, exactly. But uh, yeah. , And it was hot in there too.
It was roasting. I don’t know how the woman in there was managing it, but she was happy to see somebody, I think speaking of getting to Milano. we’re having something. We’re calling the [00:13:00] Grand Finale one 50 now. Even though, even though I’ve in my brain says we’ve only got two days left, but really we have like a week almost.
No, no, no, no, no,
Alison Brown: no, no, no, no, no.
Jill Jaracz: We have five, five
Alison Brown: days.
Jill Jaracz: Five days left. Um, but you know how bad listeners, you know how bad the transportation situation is for us, because we can’t get to competitions on time. On Sunday, the last day of the games, there is para alpine skiing, which. Due to the bus schedule in Giacomo in the morning, uh, we would miss part of,
Alison Brown: oh, nevermind.
Miss part of, we would miss two thirds of, at least,
Jill Jaracz: yes, there is para cross country skiing,
Alison Brown: which we can’t get to ’cause it’s too far away.
Jill Jaracz: We, there’s the closing ceremony,
Alison Brown: which we can’t get home from ’cause there’s no bus.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And we can’t even pay for a bus to get home from the closing ceremony because Cortina is loaded with buses that take you back and forth to places,
Alison Brown: but not at midnight.
Jill Jaracz: No, no, not even after six 30. Really? Let’s, let’s [00:14:00] be honest, they don’t go late. And, uh, so the only other sport that’s on Sunday is para ice hockey, and that’s the two medal games. Now, a as you’ve heard listeners and you will hear again, uh, the only transportation option we are provided with by the Milano Cortina Organizing Committee.
Allows us to see precisely two periods of one game
Alison Brown: in the middle of the day.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And the, the Sunday game schedule is a little different. So if we would use our provided transportation, that means zero periods. Oh,
Alison Brown: zero games.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So, and, and they told us as you went to the games desk yesterday. Too
Alison Brown: bad.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Too bad. If you wanna go to Milano at different times, other than what we get access to, we have to pay for it ourselves. So, um. We would love to be able to see an entire hockey game
Alison Brown: and share that with you,
Jill Jaracz: right? And, and the medal games. Uh, but we’re at the end of the game, so we have [00:15:00] also hit the end of our budget.
We are asking for your help to get over to Milano. We need to raise just $150 over the next few days so that we will be able to go to para ice Hockey and provide you with the type of coverage for the metal games that we’ve wanted to do all games long. So if you can ship in a couple bucks, we can pull it all together and cover this cost as a bonus.
We hope to be able to record at least some of the show on the train, on the train
Alison Brown: in the station,
Jill Jaracz: maybe someplace kind of live recording.
Alison Brown: Yeah. At
Jill Jaracz: the venues. Yes. Something to make that a little bit more fun. So if you enjoyed our live show from Verona Stae, I, I’m dying to do one from the train because there is some messages while you are on the train that I would love to.
To have on tape. So, uh, if you can chip in a couple bucks, please go to flame life pod.com and click on the yes, [00:16:00] I’ll support you button that’s on the front page. So thank you so much. We really hope to be able to get over to Milano and, uh, make this happen. Alright, we’ve got results today.
Alison Brown: Yes. So para alpine, I was there for part of it.
Jill Jaracz: Okay,
Alison Brown: because I was trying to do two things at once. Which as we all keep trying to do, so I saw four of the races of the six.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, that’s not bad.
Alison Brown: No, that was no more
Jill Jaracz: than I did.
Alison Brown: That was pretty much exciting. So,
Jill Jaracz: and, and getting there. How was your trip getting there?
Alison Brown: Getting there was not bad. I followed directions as I was told.
The best thing you told me was to look for the TG oh one.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: And that was the critical piece of information for me to be secure, that I was getting on the correct bus.
Jill Jaracz: See? See, when I got told, I just held up one finger next to my body. All that was it. I just had it down hand, down the side, one finger out.
And that’s all I could do to remember TGO one.
Alison Brown: Well, ’cause I did see TG O2 and I said, [00:17:00] Nope, do not get on that bus. That is the wrong bus. And then there was another bus that was a big bus and you had said, no, it’s a little bus. And that also was very helpful, but it did not say Tgo one on the big bus. So I knew that that was not my bus.
Okay. That was not meant for me. That was meant for others.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: And it was nice because that actually stops at Paris snowboard. So when we come back from Paris, snowboard on Saturday. To curling. We can get on the tgo one and go direct. Oh, we don’t have to go and do that 20 minute walk.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: But here’s the thing.
When you’re at Paris snowboard, before you get on the bus, you have to ask him up or down.
Jill Jaracz: Oh,
Alison Brown: okay. Because that’s the middle section. He could be going either all the way up to para alpine. Or coming down back to curling.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: So there’s a lot of up and down conversation that happens at that stop.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Although, you know, part of me would go, well, I’ll just get a seat. He’ll come back down eventually,
Alison Brown: but they don’t come back down directly.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, [00:18:00] okay.
Alison Brown: They don’t just turn around and keep going.
Jill Jaracz: Oh.
Alison Brown: In between each run, I think they get a little rest.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. So you do want to, yeah.
Alison Brown: So you do wanna make sure you’re not on the up or down bus.
Okay. The only problem I ran into was I didn’t know where to sit, so I ended up sitting in the four marked press seats way up in the back corner
Jill Jaracz: four.
Alison Brown: There were four seats marked press in the upper cor. It was a fantastic view ’cause I was high up so I could really see. Three quarters of the course. Wow.
I really could just not see the start gate. Everything else, once they turned that first curve, I could see the whole race from there. So that was pretty exciting. I saw, uh, Lorenzo.
Jill Jaracz: Oh
Alison Brown: yeah, your, your favorite announcer. He was fantastic. And the, the two in-house announcers also fantastic. Saw all the Dutch in all their orange glory.
Rooster costumes, the hats, [00:19:00] matching T-shirts. There was a lot of group, uh, activity happening at this race. Yes. So I was, I was a big fan of that. So I saw the second races of the day, ’cause this was all super combined.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: Um, ’cause the first races of the day were done by, I think 10 40. And I was just getting into town with Giacomo even though it’s supposed to get there at 10 30.
So I went up for the one o’clock races, which was great because then I got there, I got myself settled and then could, could tackle getting up to the mountain.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. Um, I, I saw a theme of the day, and that would be, are you seeing double?
Alison Brown: See now what does that mean?
Jill Jaracz: That means we have a lot of second gold medals today.
Alison Brown: Oh yes. Double gold. That’s true.
Jill Jaracz: So, um,
Alison Brown: some names that crashed out or names that we have been mentioning.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, wow, so,
Alison Brown: so,
Jill Jaracz: so today was combined Yes. Which is slalom and super G.
Alison Brown: Yes. So it’s the, it’s the combined, so [00:20:00] you’ve got two races. So the first half was the Super G, and then I got to see the slalom.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Alison Brown: Which was really exciting. Yeah. So Robin Kush, who’ve mentioned Kurt Oay and Var. Verina, who we’ve all mentioned as medalists, crashed down in the Super G portion so we won’t be mentioning them again. Yeah, it was rough in the Super G, but not so much in the slalom.
Jill Jaracz: That’s interesting.
Alison Brown: People made it down except for a couple of little
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: Things that we’ll mention as we’re going along.
Jill Jaracz: All right, so we have the women’s combined, visually impaired gold went to Veronica Ener from Austria. Her second gold tier, fourth overall gold paralympic medal.
Alison Brown: She seemed surprised at the end that she won. So I don’t know. She wasn’t, uh, lagging behind. She was in the lead after the Super G so you would think she wouldn’t be surprised, but she looked shocked.
Jill Jaracz: Hmm.
Alison Brown: You know, she was sort of, and, and very thrilled with this win, which, you know, of course was great. But it [00:21:00] kind of looked like she looked over at the screen, then looked over at her guide, then looked over at the screen again, and. She and she’s listening to them say that she won and she seemed very shocked at the whole thing, which was fun.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. How does that work with the slalom? I mean, ’cause it’s a little more, it’s way more technical,
Alison Brown: so they turn off the music and they tell the crowd to be quiet just like it was Goal. So that you’re not supposed to cheer until they’re at the very end of the race. And people were really good about it.
That it was, it was a little odd ’cause you could hear the shushing Oh, really? Of the skis. ’cause everybody was so quiet during the visually impaired, uh, portions of the race.
Jill Jaracz: Could you hear any of the conversation? N
Alison Brown: no, I didn’t.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: I don’t know. Maybe if
Jill Jaracz: I had been, because I think they’re, they’re on like a radio or mic or something.
Alison Brown: They are. But I think if I had been. Maybe further down. I was very high up. As I said, if I had been further down, you may have heard at the end, but by the time they get to [00:22:00] us, they’re not saying much anymore. ’cause it’s just those last couple gates.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay. Okay. Oh, man. Fascinating. Um, silver went to Kiara Mazel from Italy, and bronze went to Alina Starry from Austria.
Alison Brown: So two medals for Austria.
Jill Jaracz: Nice. And the women’s combined sitting gold went to Audrey Pascal Seko. Second from Spain, second gold, uh, silver Went to an Elena Forster from Germany, another familiar name and bronze went to Ong from China.
Alison Brown: I loved what she had to say because you talk about themes. We’re gonna get a good theme on this one.
So she want
Jill Jaracz: Audrey PAs.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Excuse me. Audrey. Uh, Pascal Seko. She had said that, uh, when asked about what she’s gonna do about her day off tomorrow, she says, I will sleep, I will talk with my friends, I will talk with my family. I just want to do nothing. And they have been racing a lot. The past few days.
Mm-hmm. It was one race, uh, day after another. So she [00:23:00] deserves a rest with her two gold medals. She can cuddle with them. Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrow, rest day. So it’s gonna be, uh, good for them. Yeah. It’s, it’s tough schedule.
Alison Brown: This is a rough schedule.
Jill Jaracz: In the women’s combined, standing gold went to Sweden’s Aba Arjo, a third Medal of the Games, second gold, uh, silver went to Oral.
Richard from France. Did you see the, the big. Shirts that they all had.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: That was so
Alison Brown: nice. I, I just like the rooster costumes, to be honest. I was fascinated with those.
Jill Jaracz: And bronze went to j Wing Jing from China. In the men’s combined, visually impaired gold went to Giacomo Bear Tag Noli from Italy.
Alison Brown: Said, he said yesterday that he wanted to win the gold.
That was really important to him, that he walk away from these Paralympics with a gold medal and he did it. So, nice job. Good
Jill Jaracz: job,
Alison Brown: Giacomo.
Jill Jaracz: And it his, uh, he repeats gold as gold, so he was the champion in Beijing [00:24:00] as well. So that is nice and nice to do it at home. And probably the crowd went nuts.
Alison Brown: Crowd went wild.
Jill Jaracz: Uh, silver went to Neil Simpson from Great Britain and Bronze went to Johannes Ner from Austria.
Alison Brown: So Bert Yoli also said, I’m going to sleep for two days because I’m so tired, to which I say I am with you Giacomo. I could use two days of sleep. He said I need to have a rest, a lot of power naps, and then I’m ready to compete again in a couple of days.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. So I, I imagine he’s going to rest and then he is gonna power nap and he’s gonna get up and he’s probably going to eat
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: And
Alison Brown: rest. Yes. And then he’s gonna power nap again.
Jill Jaracz: Yes,
Alison Brown: exactly. I like that kind of schedule. Giacomo
Jill Jaracz: and in the men’s combined standing. Gold went to Arthur Brochet from France.
Silver went to Federico Pari from Italy and gold went Toma grocer from Austria.
Alison Brown: So speaking of crashing out what we were saying, so Alexeev uh, had led for over a second in the super G portion, [00:25:00] and then in those last couple of gates, he crashed out in the slalom. So he would, his time would have beaten Boche.
Jill Jaracz: Oh wow.
Alison Brown: Except he crashed.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. And Boche is pretty resilient here because he crashed out in the Super G on Monday, had to go to the hospital and there’s some kind of injury he there, but he was good enough to go back down the mountain today and get this gold and defend his title
Alison Brown: and did. Not, not so bad for him today,
Jill Jaracz: no.
And in the men’s combined, sitting gold went to Jerron Kemp Schroer from Netherlands, silver went to Renee di Silvestro from Italy and bronze went to Neil DeLong from Netherlands. So Jerome’s got another gold. ’cause he got gold yesterday.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: And the Dutch must have been going crazy.
Alison Brown: Absolutely wild. But I love that he called it absurd.
That he got a second gold medal in a row. He said, that is absurd.
Jill Jaracz: Well, you know, you don’t see the Dutch. [00:26:00] On a podium, except for in the Paralympics, you know when you don’t, when you think Alpine, you do not think the Dutch, you also do not think the British. And yet here we are.
Alison Brown: Here they are. And uh, di Silvestro is the local boy that we, uh, have heard.
And he was very disappointed with that fourth place finish.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, I’m
Alison Brown: sure the other day. So getting on the podium was a big deal. He said he was a little angry about his run and he wanted to destroy all the gates. So. Hey, it got him a silver medal and of course the locals were thrilled with that. So it wonder,
Jill Jaracz: I wonder what we’ll see on the hou if we’ll see anything different on the house that’s going back tomorrow.
Oh yeah. To celebrate. Yeah, that would be nice. Um. A good day on the mountain. Did you enjoy, did you enjoy being there?
Alison Brown: I did enjoy being there and it, it was really nice ’cause at first when I got there, the sun was out and was a little warm. And then the, and it made, it also made it very difficult to see at first ’cause of just the angle of the sun and the glare.[00:27:00]
But then it just went behind the clouds and it got to be like a comfortable, cool as you’re supposed to feel when you’re out on the mountain. And uh, it was so lovely to watch. It really was just. Lovely, lovely paralympic uh, slope setup that they have there.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, it looks like a good course. I’m, I’m curious to see slalom.
I don’t know if that’s on the docket still.
Alison Brown: Yes. You, you still have the individual slalom races.
Jill Jaracz: Awesome. Um. Uh, over in para cross country skiing, we had the women’s sprint sitting and gold went to Oxana Masters who won by a huge three second margin. It’s her second goal of these games, and she defended her title.
Uh, silver went to Kim Ji from Korea and Bronze went to Wang Shi from China,
Alison Brown: and Oxana was asked about her fourth place finished in the biathlon and how she had to bounce back from that. And I, this is so her because she said the key is not to carry what [00:28:00] happened in the past, just fight the fight today.
And that’s so her, from what we’ve read of her book and what we’ve learned about her, and having met her and having spoken to her, it’s always about what’s the racism? It’s in front of me. What do I have at this moment?
Jill Jaracz: Except for she had a flashback to Sochi.
Alison Brown: She did. This was really sweet. So Aaron Pike, who is her fiance, greeted her at the, uh, at the finish line, which apparently in this race he had done in Sochi as well.
And I don’t know if they were together at that point. I think if they were, it was very early. In that relationship. So she said seeing him there and having him greet her kind of brought her back to that moment when she was much younger and much earlier in their, in their relationship
Jill Jaracz: together. Oh, very nice.
In the men’s sprint, sitting gold went to Jeju from China, he defended his title. Silver went to Brazil’s Christian vest, DeMeyer Rivera, which is the first winter Paralympic for medal in [00:29:00] South America. Really? Which pretty cool.
Alison Brown: Nice job. Brazil.
Jill Jaracz: And he’s done this? Yeah.
Alison Brown: Zi.
Jill Jaracz: And this is his third Paralympic. So he’s been around a while, trying to get on the podium. And then bronze went to Yerbo command off from Kazakhstan.
Alison Brown: Also, the first time we’ve said Kazakhstan this time around. Yes. So nice job. And Aaron Pike, as we mentioned him before, but now this was his race. He made it to the semifinals.
Jill Jaracz: Hmm. In the Women’s Sprint. Classic standing. Gold went to Ilda Nielsen from Norway. She’s been trying to get this gold since 2018, so
Alison Brown: nice job.
Jill Jaracz: Silver. Went to Sidney Peterson from USA and Stan
Alison Brown: and Shuksan. Nice day for schon
Jill Jaracz: and bronze. Went to Canada’s Natalie Wilke, which I, I don’t think we heard if she had bronze. Glitter
Alison Brown: glitter.
Jill Jaracz: But maybe the gold felt bronzy. I don’t know,
Alison Brown: apparently.
Jill Jaracz: But she’s, or more extra bronzer.
Alison Brown: But she’s got a full set now from these [00:30:00] Paralympics too.
So that’s nice. And it was interesting ’cause when we spoke to Sidney Peterson, uh, at the team USA Media summit, she talked about how at Beijing she had no expectations.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And how it was all very new and. She got a special dispensation, for lack of a better word, to, to compete. And this time she said, every time you go up to the starting line at the game, it gets harder and there’s more pressure.
So she is starting to feel a. Where the position that she’s in.
Jill Jaracz: Interesting. I wonder how she analyzes that. ’cause she was quite analytical.
Alison Brown: Mm.
Jill Jaracz: And things when we talk. But
Alison Brown: she said today she did say she was pretty stoked with how
Jill Jaracz: she skied.
Alison Brown: Well that’s good. So that’s the important part
Jill Jaracz: in the men’s sprint, classic standing gold went to Raman Denka from Belarus, uh, silver went to Sebastian Marburger from Germany, and bronze went to Benjamin Daer from France. Wow. He’s got, this is his 11th [00:31:00] Para Olympic medal. Since
Alison Brown: yes. And he has been competing since Sochi 2014. Wow. And Denka, uh, crashed in qualification, popped himself back up to get across the finish and still qualify for the next round, and then ended up winning the gold medal.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Never quit. Never quit. In the Women’s Sprint, classic visually impaired class, gold went to Anastasia Bagian from Russia who won by nine seconds
Alison Brown: a lifetime.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Silver went to Lynn Cosme from Germany,
Alison Brown: and she has won two silvers in Beijing at 15.
Jill Jaracz: Oh my goodness.
Alison Brown: She’s still only 19.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. I bet we’re gonna see that name for a long time.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Then bronze went to K Young from China,
Alison Brown: Leone. Maria Walter originally finished on the podium, but she was penalized for infringing on the classic style. So she did not stay, I guess she must have skate skied [00:32:00] at some point and they penalized her for that. So she was a, did not, uh, uh, rated as last, ah, uh, for her finish.
Jill Jaracz: In the men’s sprint, classic, visually impaired gold went to Jake AOV from USA and CH Liston. So, uh, and he’s guided by Peter Volter. Uh, he was silver at Beijing, so he is thrilled to be getting gold here, and he won by 1.5 seconds.
Alison Brown: That’s more what we’re used to seeing as these differences, not these six second nine second blowouts.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah. Uh, silver went to China’s Yu Swang. And bro went to, uh, Mo, uh, Sebastian Moin from Sweden,
Alison Brown: and Moin led for most of that final race. But he didn’t pace himself well, he said so that the other two had paced themselves better, so they were able to pass him at the end.
Jill Jaracz: Interesting. But big day. Out of Para Nordic man
Alison Brown: Big day for Shlahan out Para Nordic.
That’s nevermind for everybody else.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, Shukla on. Okay. So [00:33:00] I did go to para ice hockey,
Alison Brown: all two periods
Jill Jaracz: of it, all two periods of it sounds so bad. Um, and I had good connections. Like I got off the train, I’m rushing, I go. Got to the metro quite quickly. Uh, had to wait a few minutes for the train. Train comes, I’m running upstairs and I am going right to the shuttle.
The shuttle had to wait quite a bit, probably a good five minutes or so. And then, uh, yeah, it got there and it’s first intermission and I was like, oh, but that’s pretty good. That is pretty good. That is pretty good for the, the time we have to do it. I do have a stadium beef.
Alison Brown: Oh no,
Jill Jaracz: because they do have the Omega countdown clock, which is a video on the screen to count everything down.
It’s all Olympic based. They’re still using the one from the Olympics. And I realized today, like you, you’ve got the 10, it’s countdown from 10, and not all of the shots are [00:34:00] Olympic sports, but there’s skating, there’s bobsled, there’s all this Olympic stuff, and it’s like you didn’t. Put one version in for the Paralympics
Alison Brown: or even mix it up so that both had both,
Jill Jaracz: yes.
Right.
Alison Brown: That would’ve been the more
Jill Jaracz: efficient
Alison Brown: way, equitable, equitable thing to do. Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So I have a beef about that. Uh, first game of the day was Italy. First is Germany. Italy won two one, but it, it started out Germany’s way. They scored just under third, three minutes into the game. That’s all they could get.
Italy tied it on a power play that period and they went ahead for good early in the second and Outshot Germany 24 12. I wonder how well attended this game was.
Alison Brown: Well the Italy games seem to always draw a crowd, even though these are early and I think a lot of the school groups are going to the early games.
So that, I would expect that the Italy game had several school groups yelling, Italia
Jill Jaracz: probably. ’cause there were [00:35:00] plenty of school groups. At the game I was at, and also poor, poor teachers trying to take attendance on the bus, on the shuttle bus on the way back to make sure all the kids got there. It felt so bad for her.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: and I mean, everybody on the bus is loud of course, but somehow they magically hear the teacher calling their name. It was fun. Um, I, I did get two, two periods of USA versus China was very excited to see China and see how they did. And it was. Just to nothing by the us. Uh, at the first intermission, I was very surprised when, uh, and I was following the data on my phone and just nothing was happening and nothing was happening.
Like, Ooh, China must be good. And I got there and it was a little, I, I felt like they were off. Like they weren’t necessarily as fast as they were. Last time in Beijing, maybe they, they have some, a few players that are [00:36:00] playing a lot more mm-hmm. Than other US players. So if they’re really leaning on them, they get tired and, and then they can’t come back.
It also felt like they were a little disorganized. And there are a few times where their, their goalie was kind of a little far out. I’m like, Ooh, dude. You’re exposing the goal a lot here. Uh, but
Alison Brown: not disciplined it sounds like.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Yeah. Again, like we heard,
Alison Brown: which is, which is what we’ve heard of China, that they’re just, that they have a lot of speed.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: And the skill is, is getting there, but the discipline isn’t there.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And a lot of like, and, and this happened in the last game too, I noticed people aren’t getting to where they’re supposed to be. It seems like they’re, they’re not backing up their, their people. Uh, you’ll see passes that go to nobody ’cause the other person wasn’t there or they couldn’t get there in time.
So there’s a little sloppiness there. Uh, China did score a game in the third period, so we got to hear the Chinese [00:37:00] song. It’s by strong.
Alison Brown: It is
Jill Jaracz: it. It is. It’s our favorite song from Beijing.
Alison Brown: Oh, we were joking the other day about how much we hoped it would be that song, and it was Oh, that’s fantastic.
Jill Jaracz: I was so excited.
As we’re like the two Chinese people in the audience from the flag I saw across the way, but I was like, you guys did it. You got it right. I, I mean, Freebird is a weird choice for USA to be quite honest. And we’ve heard it so many times over the last few weeks, um, uh, that it grows on you. I’ll say that, like mold, but I was thrilled that they got by.
Oh, so, and, and. Uh, I had the, the last game of the day, which is Slovakia versus Japan on YouTube while we were prepping. And, uh, it seemed to be a song that Slovakians [00:38:00] knew as well for their goal score. Yes. So, uh, I’m very excited that the, these, that’s how they wanted to celebrate goals.
Alison Brown: Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: All games long.
It’s been a lot of fun, uh, during this game. Um. Declan Farmer broke the Paralympic point record. So he has 54 points overall throughout his Paralympic career. Uh, the US won seven one, so then just afterwards the US just broke out and China hit next to nothing. They end the preliminaries with the perfect three and oh record and the scored 34 goals, 34 goals over the tape.
Alison Brown: That’s
Jill Jaracz: insane. However, both teams are in the semi-finals, so we may see this again. Yep. By Schwang. Uh, and then Canada beat Chea four to one, which had to be a wild game. And I didn’t, uh, very shocked when I looked at the stats on this one because Canada, uh, and, and ’cause Canada’s the other powerhouse, and I expected a lot more [00:39:00] scoreless after the first period.
And then four outta the five goals of the game were power plays.
Alison Brown: Ooh.
Jill Jaracz: And the last goal was an empty net.
Alison Brown: Huh? That’s a surprise.
Jill Jaracz: So Chea might have had their number a little bit. So,
Alison Brown: yeah, well check is an up and coming power in sled hockey. I know we’re supposed to say para ice hockey, but I’m, it’s very hard for me to break that habit.
Um, but check is, has been a team to keep an eye on and definitely fighting for that last medal spot.
Jill Jaracz: So we, we will see about that. And then we had Slovakia in Japan at the evening. Japan scored first and led into the second period. Slovakia came back and just dominated. And the third, uh, OPPA scored two of Slovakia’s five goals, and they Outshot Japan 29 10.
Just got, got a little sloppy beyond defense. So, uh, Japan has the only woman in the whole tournament on their [00:40:00] team.
Her name is Akari Fui. Uh, she has not gotten playing time yet at all. Uh, but there are other non goalkeeper players who also have not played yet for Japan. So it’s not that she’s getting singled out, they just didn’t put her in.
Alison Brown: And it seems like from what Rob Sno, who is the, uh, announcing these games and, and Ash Ani himself, seems like Japan plays one major line.
Everybody else is secondary.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: So that it’s, it’s not just her that’s not getting a lot of playing time, as you said. Yeah. That they have players, that they really play a lot of those minutes.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And so that leaves everybody to think, well, what’s going on with the women’s game and world Para Ice Hockey Senior manager, Michelle Lala, said that for inclusion into 2030, they need to have two world championships and eight countries representing three regions. So for the women’s game, so [00:41:00] 2025 World Championships, which was their first, they had five countries from three regions and then a team world.
So they are determined to have a 2026 world Championships. Don’t have a host yet working on it. Since last September, India has started a program. They’re getting athletes and equipment ready. They want to play at the 2026 world champs. Kazakhstan is starting, Mexico is starting. There are athletes in Korea and China, so they may be building teams soon as well.
And uh, FSI had said that, uh, she’s been contacted by other. People who want to play in Japan, so that may help too. And it’s realistic that women’s para ice hockey could be at French Alps 2030, not a done deal, but. That could happen.
Alison Brown: Yeah. The three regions is not the problem because we have North America, Asia, and Europe working on this
Jill Jaracz: and Well, and Australia played.
Yes. [00:42:00] So we’ve got, we’ve got the three regions.
Alison Brown: So it, in essence, we’re probably gonna end up with four regions. If they get up to the eight teams. So it’s a, it’s a growing game and that’s exciting.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And I really hope it happens.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Monica Quimbee, we’re, we’re pulling for you.
Jill Jaracz: Right, right. And I, I, I do think that world Para ice hockey wants women’s game and I.
Would not be surprised if the International Paralympic Committee wants a women’s game as well, because that would really help with the gender balance of the winter Paralympics. ’cause it is heavy on the men.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Here. And that’s ice hockey is really the, the tipping factor. So we’ll see. Fingers crossed.
Wheelchair curling. We had, uh, two sessions for team and then the semi-finals for the doubles, which you were at.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: In the first session of the team, great Britain lost to Italy eight to six. They started up three to one after two ends, but [00:43:00] then it was just all Italy and the game ended after seven. Uh, great Britain actually did a swap.
They swapped out, uh, Graham Stewart for, uh, Austin McKenzie after the fifth end, or no, at the beginning of the fifth end. And, uh, that didn’t help. Sadly, sadly. Uh, China Bucha or no?
Alison Brown: Hmm. Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: Canada beat China nine, four and Canada just led from the beginning and there’s a, a stat called Shot Success can.
Canada was 79% successful on their shots versus 67% for China. This one
Alison Brown: do it
Jill Jaracz: also went to seven ends.
Alison Brown: And this was the two undefeated teams. Oh, in the tournament. Yeah. So now Canada remains the only undefeated team.
Jill Jaracz: Nice. Uh, and then, uh, Korea beat Norway nine to zero. And this was just a slow build for Korea.
But Norway had trouble all [00:44:00] game long. They had, uh, 42% shot success and, uh, ine ol. Had a pretty tough game. He had a 13% shot success rating. Wow. Compared, and that’s compared to the Koreans had 72% for the entire team and their vice, skip alone, uh, had a. And their vice skip, uh, had, uh, an 84% shot success rate.
Alison Brown: Well, yeah. You can’t do too much if one person’s at 84% and the opponent’s at 13.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s really tough.
Slovakia beat USA eight, three and seven ends, uh, because the US just could not get anything going during the game. China beat Latvia nine five, and even though Latvia scored three in the seventh, that just wasn’t enough. They conceded, uh, Norway came back. From that bad loss in the morning and be Italy nine [00:45:00] three.
And uh, so it kind of flip flop. Italy was good in the morning, not great in the evening. Conceded after seven store it all got it back together. He made 72% of his shots for this one. So, uh, nice way to reset there. And then Canada eed out a win. Off of Sweden, six, five. They got off to a really good start.
Sweden came back to make it five, three after seven, and then Canada scored three in the eighth to get the win.
Alison Brown: So standings, uh, in the team, competition Canada is, as we said, the only undefeated team in left set six and oh. China’s five and one. Korea and Sweden are four and two. Slovakia is three and three.
Italy, Lavia and the United States are two and four, and Great Britain and Norway are one and five.
Jill Jaracz: Do you, I always wanna say Italia.
Alison Brown: I do always wanna say Ital. I did almost just say it. Yeah, that was that what that little hiccup was. I was about to say Italia. I just, because we’ve been hearing it so much,
Jill Jaracz: right.
Alison Brown: [00:46:00] I just, it seeps into your brain. You cannot help it.
Jill Jaracz: So if we say Italia, you
Alison Brown: know, you know what we’re talking about.
Jill Jaracz: You were at the doubles game?
Alison Brown: I was at the doubles and I will be honest, I saw nothing of China Lavia ’cause I was only playing paying attention to the US and Korea. And I did get to speak to Stephen, Laura after the match.
So we’ll, we’ll spoiler alert her. Hear you. Uh, Korea beat the US six to three and after the second end it was four one and it never really got past. Everything was, they would, the US would get a point and Korea would get two points. Oh, the US would get no points. Korea would get a point. So it was this constant chipping, chipping, chipping.
And I asked Steve, you know, what went right, what went wrong? And he said nothing went right and everything went wrong. He said just everything was a little bit off, uh, the whole game. They weren’t quite. In sync. [00:47:00] They weren’t quite throwing right. They weren’t quite strategizing correctly. He just said everything was just not quite there tonight.
And it’s, that is kind of how it looked. It looked like they were struggling with, with every little piece of it. Um, they were calm. ’cause they’re always calm. But you could see they were overthinking and, and really working it through.
Jill Jaracz: It’s so interesting and I, I’d love to sit down and try to figure out like over a tournament when you’re up and you’re down and you’re trying to be even, or just like things don’t go your way or the ice is not right in a way, or you can’t read it just the right way and you’re, I mean, Korea is one of the best teams in the world, so I mean, that’s also tough.
To, to go up against, but yeah, I’m, I’m, it’s so weird how this works where you’re up one game and everything clicks, and then just the next one you think, oh, we’re gonna be [00:48:00] just fine. And it just doesn’t click the same way.
Alison Brown: You know, I asked Laura how she was, and she definitely was a lot more rattled than mm-hmm.
Than Steve was because as I said to her, you know, this is your first time through this experience, and she said, yeah, we kind of got, I got it in my head. We had a shot. Because they were in the semi-finals and she had the shot of going into a gold medal game. They are still gonna play the bronze medal game.
They’re still excited about that. And Steve was really positive, as he always is, but saying, you know, they beat Chyna. In the round robin, which they have not done. They’re going for a medal, which they have not done before. This is gonna be the best finish, even if they end up in fourth, that American wheelchair curling has seen at the Paralympics.
So it’s positive in, in the way the program is moving. But this was, this was hard. This was a hard loss.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Alison Brown: And then I asked them, what were they gonna do tonight? And they said, same thing we’ve been doing every night. So [00:49:00] they’re gonna, they were gonna go watch the team play. They were gonna practice a little bit and just get some rest and come back ready for tomorrow.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Oh, not a great match to watch the team play.
Alison Brown: No, they didn’t do very well either, but we were, I was able to wish them good luck from all of Shuk Fsad. Oh, okay. So I did get to pass that along to them. That’s good. That’s good. So the bronze medal match will be USA Latvia and the gold medal match will be China Korea, which is gonna be couple of hum DERs.
Jill Jaracz: It is. And it, yeah, it does have to be hard. And I bet you get that in your head. Like, if we win, we are guaranteed a medal. It’s just what color? And now you’re gonna be fighting for a medal. So, uh, that’ll be, uh, interesting to see. Hold on. How’d they do against Lavia?
Alison Brown: They won against Lavia. That was the one that was that last stone where she, where, oh no, that was Italy.
But they did talk a little bit about the game. They played Lavia first and they said, it doesn’t matter how we did in the first [00:50:00] one because we’re both two totally different teams now.
Jill Jaracz: That’s true. That’s very true. So it’ll be interesting to
Alison Brown: see how both teams, I think these are gonna be two very evenly matched games.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: You know, China and Korea and us Latvia, I think they’re both on par with each other and that’ll make it super exciting. So, I don’t know if one of us is gonna watch one sheet and one is gonna watch the other when we’re there, or we’re just gonna.
Jill Jaracz: We probably should just,
Alison Brown: we probably probably
Jill Jaracz: break it up
Alison Brown: because Yeah.
But oh, it’s gonna be hard not to keep an eye on Steve and Laura.
Jill Jaracz: Keep one eye, keep
Alison Brown: one eye on one and one on the other. We know I can’t do that.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, man. But. Well, I’m hoping you guys have a great, great match. It would be just amazing to get on the metal stand for wheelchair curling in the us, but we also have other people competing tomorrow.
Alison Brown: Yes. So Oxana Masters, uh, Kendall Gretch, Sidney Peterson, and Aaron Pike [00:51:00] will be competing in the cross country 10 kilometer.
Jill Jaracz: Jake Geoff doesn’t do that one.
Alison Brown: He might do that one. I can’t have a start list.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, that’s right, that’s right.
Alison Brown: So I’m always guessing as to who’s racing in these races. So yes, Jake Bradoff is probably gonna be in that one as well.
But on a better note, we have a current shook list on medal count. We’ve got three golds, three silvers, and a bronze.
Jill Jaracz: Nice.
Alison Brown: We are doing quite well,
Jill Jaracz: team. All right. And we have shout outs.
Alison Brown: Yes. So first is Jackie Tuthill from London Dairy New Hampshire. I have been to London Dairy.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, you have?
Alison Brown: And it is lovely.
Jill Jaracz: Nice, nice Jackie. And, and that would be like Jacqueline Jackie Kapowski, who, uh, was, I believe she is Canadian. I didn’t write that part down, but she played wheelchair curling at Vancouver 2010 and then and finished fourth, and then she was in para rowing at Rio 2016 and placed seventh.
Alison Brown: Nice.
Jill Jaracz: I’m always impressed by.[00:52:00]
Paralympians who just do two random sports together winter and summer.
Alison Brown: They just can’t get enough.
Jill Jaracz: I know.
Alison Brown: Or then you have like Exon Masters who says 14 sports.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, exactly.
Alison Brown: Just is there a sport I haven’t done yet. I’d like to try it. And second up is menu. Manu, Manu. Manu. No,
Jill Jaracz: man. You are a good listener.
Alison Brown: He is. He’s been the best and now I’m screwing up his name. Manu Paavola from Helsinki, Finland. One of our OGs, that’s for sure.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, exactly. Manu is a staple of the Sta staple. I don’t, I don’t, I, you know the other word popped outta my head just now. Uh. Not a very, very good participant.
Alison Brown: He’s
Jill Jaracz: an
Alison Brown: anchor of the
Jill Jaracz: Thank you.
What comes outta my mouth keeps getting worse and worse, [00:53:00] but I’m gonna, I’m gonna say we’re gonna be worse than Stanley. Touchy after, and we aren’t. That we don’t have much left in this show.
Alison Brown: Poor Mano. He has been such an anchor of the Facebook group, which by the way, is Keep the Flame Alive Podcast. If you wanna read all the amazing things he puts about Olympic history and especially, uh, things from Finland.
And that neck of the woods is always great for him when he shares
Jill Jaracz: and mano. There is a, uh, an Indian shot putter named Manu, and he competed at Paris 2024. We have a mascot.
Alison Brown: We have a mascot, Ozzy Augustus, who I, I’m surprised he’s, he’s not Ozzy, Manus Augustus, because he is the sibling of Wolfgang Von Ffel.
So we’ve got more Guinea pigs and ch lassan. So thank you very much to Ozzy slash Wolfe’s family who shared their Guinea pigs with us.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. And that’s going to do it for this episode. If you [00:54:00] want even more fun of the most. More fun of the most fun coverage of the games hit us up. We’re at play the live pod.com.
That’s your source for our socials newsletter and direct ways to contact us. And if you aren’t getting the newsletter, uh, it’s, it’s a via substack. If you’re already on Substack, but it’s free, you just sign up. Excellent stuff coming outta a Allison’s fingers and brain. Lately
Alison Brown: for now.
Jill Jaracz: Wait,
Alison Brown: it may, it’s only day four.
It can burn out fast.
Jill Jaracz: No, we gotta keep that flame alive and, uh, join our Facebook group. Like Allison said, that’s where we are posting things first and we’re chatting to people. Uh, be sure to tune in tomorrow if we forgot to tell anything. Uh. About you today. I really have just lost it. I don’t know what happened.
Alison Brown: That’s okay. It’s the end of day four, and there’s always a point at which we start losing our mouths. Well,
Jill Jaracz: well, that happened yesterday.
Alison Brown: Yes. Stanley touchy showed up.[00:55:00]
Jill Jaracz: I just have an image in my head of what Stanley touchy the character could look like. Does he have on a sh on shirt? He might, he might be a friend of Eric Hiin. You never know,
just like you.
Alright, so that’s where we’re, uh, also, you know, grand finale one 50. If you got a few bucks, please send it our way so that we can get to Milano to cover. The gold medal and bronze medal hockey matches in person. so Millie,
Alison Brown: and until next time, chow and keep the flame alive.