It’s Day 5 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics, and the running theme of the Games seems to be, “It’s getting hot.” Athletes are using coded language (and sometimes not-so-coded) to express just how tough the snow conditions are, and how hard it is to compete when the snow is slushy.
That said, Team Keep the Flame Alive has done well today in para cross-country skiing, with several of our team members climbing onto the podium.
The other sport on the program was wheelchair curling, which we went to. Jill went into Cortina first to see some of the mixed team event, but Giacomo in the Morning’s bus got there late enough that she wouldn’t have seen any of it, so instead she opted to explore the town to find other interesting things to share with you, including a shock at the post office.
Alison arrived in time for the medal round of wheelchair curling, with China facing off against Korea for gold, and Latvia going up against TKFLASTANIs Steve Emt and Laura Dwyer for bronze. Both games went into extra ends and were absolutely amazing to watch – check them out:
Unfortunately for TKFLASTAN, they lost in that extra end by one point, and although Laura Dwyer’s final shot was right on the money, the ice just didn’t curl their way. They still have the highest-ever finish for a U.S. wheelchair curling team.
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 Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.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 5
Jill Jaracz: [00:00:00] And welcome to Keep the Flame Alive. Day five, coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 of Winter Paralympic Games. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, coming to you from sh Stan House in ve Tre. Joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison Chow.
Alison Brown: Ciao. I feel a little smelly today.
Jill Jaracz: You do?
Alison Brown: I do. I feel smelly
Jill Jaracz: every day.
Alison Brown: No, I think it’s, the clothes have finally caught up with not getting laundered as frequently as they would at home, so I’m feeling a little uncomfortable, so I’ll stay on this side of the table.
Jill Jaracz: Okay, thank you. Well, it doesn’t worry. I’m getting a little congestion.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: I am taking cold ease, Lori. Okay.
I’m taking Coldies every day. I take my iron and I try to remember my malty.
Alison Brown: You have been, I’ve seen you do it
Jill Jaracz: so. I’m trying to, I heard a lot of coughing and stuff going on in curling today. I was like, oh, get away from me. You’ve got [00:01:00] the yuck. I don’t want the yuck.
Alison Brown: And they steal your, uh, hand sanitizer.
Jill Jaracz: I know, but I have it. It’s back. It’s back. It’s
Alison Brown: safe. So on that note, yesterday mm-hmm. My badge didn’t get scanned my bag and my bag did not. They just waved me through.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Wait, what time was this?
Alison Brown: Um. I, well, yesterday. Well, was that yesterday or was that, no, it was yesterday when I wasn’t with you,
Jill Jaracz: correct.
Oh, ’cause I was at hockey.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, actually I was just on the train. You
Alison Brown: were just on the train with a little hockey. So it was normal time. It was like 11 in the morning. Okay. And they just waved me through.
Jill Jaracz: Holy cow.
Alison Brown: And then today I got scanned and they looked. In my bag for only one pocket of the bag. And then she was just like waved me through.
Jill Jaracz: Really. I had a woman who not only looked at both pockets of my bag, made me open up my do kit bag that has wires and stuff in it, and thank goodness I had the foresight to stop [00:02:00] on our bench that we wait at when we’re waiting for the bus to go home and repack my food underneath everything. My water bottle with the hat over it.
Very
Alison Brown: clever.
Jill Jaracz: So that I didn’t get any of that questioning.
Alison Brown: Yes, I have. I did take your advice and I have hat masked my food items,
Jill Jaracz: but she did also feel the sides for the first time. Somebody has felt my water, my bottle sides.
Alison Brown: Yeah. So. She felt the sides of my bag. I have a metal water bottle in there. She did not examine it and just kind of waved me through.
But the not scanning my badge freaked me out a little bit. That does, ’cause that is, that’s like the most basic thing that they do.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And to, to know that you are okay. Or I don’t know if they track attendance and see how people are using their credentials or whatever. Um, I still had my, my new friend.
The one who said, oh, they change the rules every 15 minutes. Yes. I don’t know what’s going on here. He was there. [00:03:00] Um, he was the badge scanner. And now we are friends and when he gets enough pins, we will be trading.
Alison Brown: Fantastic.
Jill Jaracz: So I am so excited. I have a friend in the wheelchair curling entrance area.
Alison Brown: Well, we go there frequently because that is also the entrance that we use to get to para alpine.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: So it is a frequent, a frequently visited stop on our, our tour of Cortina.
Jill Jaracz: Um. What we forgot yesterday. Yes. I forgot to tell you that I went to a, the local Fria because we are, you know, when you said the other day after you went to ice hockey, how much you enjoyed being in Milano again?
Alison Brown: Yes,
Jill Jaracz: I felt the same way.
And on the, I was wondering why, because we didn’t see much Milano, to be quite honest. And there was some familiarity, which was nice, but we were in a very sterile slash. Slightly sketch part of town, because it’s sketch because you’re by the train station. We’re right
Alison Brown: by the train station.
Jill Jaracz: Um,
Alison Brown: there’s not a lot [00:04:00] of personality here.
Jill Jaracz: No. And then, but they have here like a lot of high rise hotels.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: And there are a, a couple of nicer looking restaurants or restaurants that look like they will service these hotels.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: And um, so it is very sterile and cold and it just doesn’t have much, and we’re not. Going around here very much, to be quite honest, we’re not part of the,
Alison Brown: it’s to the train station and back.
Yes, exactly. And back, back to the train station and back again.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So that’s been fun. Uh, but a couple of hotels down there is a little Fria sandwich shop. Basically got a sandwich. If you’re on Facebook group, you have seen the sandwich. It’s a giant. It, uh, took up like two thirds of my tray table on the train and it’s a normal sized seat, a normal sized tray table, and delicious.
Alison Brown: Excellent.
Jill Jaracz: Not that expensive. I made two meals out of it.
Alison Brown: Excellent.
Jill Jaracz: Some prosciutto, I think cheese roasted veg, which [00:05:00] included. Eggplant and potatoes and there, then there ended up being some kind of cucumber or pickle thing in there. Nice. I couldn’t tell the distance it was so, so good. I might go back.
Alison Brown: Yeah, I was gonna say, I think, I think a stop maybe tomorrow evening or the following evening on our way home, whatever day it is that we’re coming back together. Mm-hmm. We’ll stop and we’ll get some sandwiches for dinner.
Jill Jaracz: Alright. Um. Culture. What? What’s going on culture wise for you?
Alison Brown: There isn’t much culture going on for me right now.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: I mean, I did have, I did have a different driver this morning.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. You took a different bus this
Alison Brown: morning? I did take a different bus, so I took the later bus this morning. ’cause I wasn’t going to para Alpine or Where did you go this morning?
Jill Jaracz: Well, I was supposed to go to wheelchair curling.
Alison Brown: Okay, well, we’ll get to that.
I was just going to the second session of wheelchair curling. So I took a later bus and it was lovely. It was on [00:06:00] time. It was a smooth ride. We did make stops that Giacomo has never made.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, really?
Alison Brown: And we missed stops that Giacomo makes.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: So I think the stops that Giacomo makes are in Giacomo’s head. Like they’re not actually the stops he’s supposed to make.
Jill Jaracz: Huh. Okay,
Alison Brown: because I did stop at the train station, remember you said, oh, there’s a train station stop. Yes, yes, I did stop there. Okay. And there was a TC sign there, so I think he’s sup.
And we did stop there again tonight. Right,
Jill Jaracz: right.
Alison Brown: So I think he’s supposed to stop there and just
Jill Jaracz: doesn’t
Alison Brown: always, doesn’t like he did the other day where he just skipped San Vito for that poor woman who was trying to get to San Vito. So, yeah, my, but my. Bus driver did drop me off in a completely different place.
Jill Jaracz: Where, where did
Alison Brown: you end up? Like two blocks away. Oh. From where we normally end up. I, he just sort of stopped the bus and opened the door [00:07:00] and I said, I guess I’ll walk from here and hope for the best so that if that’s culture, that was my culture. ’cause I did get to see two more blocks of Cortina.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well there you go.
Alison Brown: Which was quite lovely. There’s some lovely restaurants and some lovely little shops. And were
Jill Jaracz: you let off like two blocks before our typical bus
Alison Brown: stop? Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: Yeah. So on, instead of making the turn
Jill Jaracz: mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: He just went straight.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Alison Brown: But he stopped before then? Yes, before the turn. And so he let us off.
It was about the equivalent of about two blocks. Okay. And I said, I hope this is not as far as I think it is. And it wasn’t, because I’m thinking we’re, you know, two kilometers from where we normally get dropped off, but we weren’t. So I was quite relieved.
Jill Jaracz: Well, um, I had a different bus story. We’ll get to that in a second.
I did, uh, my package finally arrived at home from Milan, which I sent via DHL, which is supposed to arrive [00:08:00] February 26th, and it showed up March 10th, opened twice by various customs, one of them being Germany. And as we unboxed on a producer, Ben Unboxed on video for me and. One of the customs or both of the customs sliced through my box of Olympic rings pasta.
Alison Brown: Oh no.
Jill Jaracz: So it’s open, but it’s
Alison Brown: dried pasta. Come on. Yeah, it’s
Jill Jaracz: fine. I am. And there was some in the bottom of the box and I was like, you can throw that away. He’s like, are you sure? I’m like, well, it’s going and boiling water. Who knows?
Alison Brown: It’ll be fine.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, exactly. So I said, just. You know, tape that bad boy up.
We’re eating it. I am eating that pasta.
Alison Brown: This better be the best darn pasta I’ve ever had. No, I don’t care if it’s not good,
Jill Jaracz: to be quite
Alison Brown: honest. You just want eat Olympic rains.
Jill Jaracz: You just want to eat it. Uh um. Then that was exciting to see all the stuff. I’m like, what else did I get? Did I [00:09:00] get you anything? I got him a t-shirt that might fit.
Alison Brown: Thankfully
Jill Jaracz: you didn’t slice through that? No. Thank goodness. No. ’cause he kept pulling stuff out and he’s like, well there’s, I’m like, well, that’s for me. That’s for me. Oh, that’s for me. Then I felt bad and I’m like, well, there’s nothing here. So anyway, so I, uh. That was exciting that, that finally got home.
Uh, listener Patrick in Dallas. I know you also DHL stuff. I have something else to tell you coming up. So I got on the early bus ’cause I was gonna go and see team wheelchair curling, which I have not seen in person yet. Right, right. So I some, oh, I, last night I got really, really cold, so I had to take a shower to warm up.
Before I went to bed and then I went to bed really late. Got, and so I set my watch a little bit later since I showered already. And uh, got out the door a little bit late. I got out the door at seven [00:10:00] 30.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: Which is when Giacomo is supposed to show up,
Alison Brown: but he’s never shown up at seven 30.
Jill Jaracz: I know I get to the bus stop at 7 36.
There’s nobody there.
Alison Brown: Oh no.
Jill Jaracz: And I think did Giacomo in the morning actually show up on time? And I said, well, I will wait for a good. Half an hour to 45 minutes.
Alison Brown: Yes, because it’s very possible that nobody else was taking the bus that morning. ’cause usually it’s only a handful of people anyway.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And, uh, I was correct.
He showed up at 7 54 to 7 56. So 25, 20 minutes late. And on the bus I realized that, um, there’s probably nobody there because there’s no nothing in the mountains today. So we are low on needing volunteers. I’m sure everybody gets a day off. And I say to Jack Mo, even though I recognize him, I’m like, you’re going to Cortina, right?
And he’s like, yeah, and I get up and he’s got the Panorama bus. So I decided to sit [00:11:00] in the panorama seat. How was that? Fantastic. Oh, and I think it’s because you can see where you’re going. Your brain registers, this is what’s gonna happen versus you’re getting tossed around going, where are we going?
Alison Brown: Huh?
Jill Jaracz: So, uh, dirty as all Get out, kids clean up after yourselves. There were coffee cups and water bottles and all this stuff junk up there, and Giacomo doesn’t have time to clean this stuff. He’s busy driving, I will say,
Alison Brown: and making stops that
Jill Jaracz: he doesn’t
Alison Brown: need
Jill Jaracz: to make well or not making stops. We did get gas today.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: We did not stop at the stop that he usually takes a break at,
Alison Brown: right? Because that’s not actually a stop on the route.
Jill Jaracz: I, I don’t know. I just assumed it was a break stop and then I started getting very worried ’cause Giacomo was not taking a break. Um, it. We stop on the [00:12:00] side of the road for like a minute.
I don’t know why did you go into that uh, parking lot where we kind of go down a ramp?
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. Was the market still open?
Alison Brown: Yes,
Jill Jaracz: it was Market day in this one big parking lot we go to and like, oh my gosh, how is he going to get around this as well?
Alison Brown: And somehow Giacomo did.
Jill Jaracz: He’s a good driver. He is a good driver.
I will say that. Um. Sitting in the front. Yeah, like I said, not as bouncy. I did take a bunch of video that I’m going to try to string together. I don’t know because, um, some of the video got very long. I went like, oh, here’s a tunnel. But you spend over a minute in some of these tunnels and like, it’s kind of boring.
Um, so we’ll, we’ll see what I can come up for y’all. Um, we stopped at again, uh, at a rest area kind of thing. Just you. You jutted. It was jutted into the road. Yes. And we stopped there for a little bit [00:13:00] and um, that was odd, but I was like, get your cigarette or whatever you need. Take a break. ’cause this is like at 10 o’clock or something.
He’s been going for a while. And usually it’s gas and then you stop for the rest area. Right, right away way. And then we get to Corina. And, and we have picked up a few other people along the way. We get to Cortina, and I know we are at the bus stop. But we, there was another bus there, so he kind of moved in front and I didn’t know if he was, stop, stopped until he came up and he’s talking to me in Italian.
I don’t know what he’s saying. And he finally says, Cortina. And I was like, well, I didn’t hear the sh of the doors, so I didn’t know I had to get off Now. But I had to get off. Got to Corino K. Looked at my phone. Curling is all, they’re all in like the sixth end.
Alison Brown: Mm.
Jill Jaracz: And I figured by the time I get to the curling stadium, which is a hike,
Alison Brown: they’re gonna be the eighth end.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So I said, well, we’re gonna have a culture situation.
Alison Brown: Excellent.
Jill Jaracz: So I [00:14:00] walked into the co-op.
Alison Brown: Oh, you
did?
Jill Jaracz: I did. Which was. It, it, the co-op is kind of like a a, a mall in the, in a sense, but it’s not all the stores are kind of open. They just,
Alison Brown: it’s kind of a store of stores.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, yes, yes. So
Alison Brown: kind of like when you go into the old school department stores, how you have the different makeup sections.
Yes. It almost looked like that from the outside. Yes. Is that how it
Jill Jaracz: looked on the inside? That is, there’s a perfumery, there’s a bookstore, there’s a tchotchke shop. There’s. Grocery store, there’s a wine store, and uh, then on upper levels there’s clothing and housewares and stuff. I didn’t go to the upper level, went to the bookstore because I of course saw other 1956 books and other Olympic books and did not buy, thought about buying, but I did peruse a lot.
They had postcards because I also realized, oh, I have not sent any postcards home, and I like to do that, so I better do that. Today. Uh, and that’s bookmarks. I’ve never seen Milano Cortina bookmarks.
Alison Brown: Oh [00:15:00] no.
Jill Jaracz: So I got some bookmarks as little gifties. And uh, then I saw on sale a mouse pad. And I’ve had trouble.
I like using my mouse over using a track pad, and I’ve had trouble with the, the surfaces and my mouse and it’s been frustrating and made me less efficient. So I was like, lemme give this mouse pad. I go to the tchotchke shop across the street. What do they have there? Milo and Tina. Mouse pads. So I go back to the bookstore to return the mousepad I just bought.
And if producer Ben is listening to this, he will love this portion. Um, they, they weren’t thrilled that I just bought something and wanted to return it, and I bought it with a credit card. They said, do you want cash back? And I said, yeah, I’ll take cash back. Like any kind of financial criminal, you know, and I’m not, [00:16:00] but I was like, I would happily have you reverse the charges.
But they were kind of like, well, we gotta take this all off, or whatever. I don’t know. They talked between themselves and they decided that the best way to, they figured out a good way to do this. Not thrilled with me Lots. People our age buying newspapers and saying hello and all this stuff at the same time, and I didn’t wanna say I saw that they have the stickers for the Italia in peace.
Sticker book that I got from the Fiat book and I wanted to go, Hey, throw some of those on. Now that I’m returning stuff, I wanna buy some of those. So I have to go back to the co-op and buy some stickers.
Alison Brown: With the money that you got back from
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I, I spent that already.
Alison Brown: Oh, okay.
Jill Jaracz: So then I went over to the tchotchke shop and bought a mouse pad because Tina is white and I will get that dirty first.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Um, so that made me very happy. Wandered around and I said, wait a second. Well I have these postcards I have to send them,
Alison Brown: so we need
Jill Jaracz: post
Alison Brown: office.
Jill Jaracz: So [00:17:00] yes, so I wrote a few. I still have to write some, uh, wrote a few out ’cause I know those addresses. Uh, found the post office in Cortina.
Alison Brown: Fantastic.
Jill Jaracz: Patrick, you should have boxed up your stuff and shipped it from Cortina because they had boxes there and they have, um.
The small one, they had a smaller and a larger, which is not super large, let’s just say that. Um, one had a hockey player on it and the other has a speed, uh, skater on it. So that was cool. Take my po wait in line, take my postcards up to the thing, and the lady’s talking at me and thinks I don’t understand until she says, well, do you want Olympia or para Olympia?
And I realized she’s got Olympic stamps. Oh, that, I’m very sorry. I went to the wrong postal branch in Mul because all of you who donated money and to get a postcard, you could have gotten a Olympic or Paralympic stamp apparently. So [00:18:00] those got Olympic stamps. I may have to send Ben another card to get the Paralympic St.
That was cool. Um, then I was like, Hey, I see a bakery every time we leave Cortina.
Alison Brown: Yes,
Jill Jaracz: I would like to find a bakery. And walked a little ways and then wasn’t finding it. I was like, well, this may be farther than I think it’s, but I’m now in bakery mode, so let me find a bakery near me.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Walked a different street and, and found a bakery.
Found a bakery. Lovely. It was bread based. Nice. So I got a giant pretzel.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: with, it’s got caraway seeds in it.
Alison Brown: Mm,
Jill Jaracz: it’s delicious. And then they had a bunch of different focaccia. So I got one with Rosemary and I was starting to talk in Italian. I looked stuff up on my, while they were waiting for other people, waiting on other people, I’m looking stuff up on my phone like, oh, what do you say?
What is this? What is that? So I did stuff in Italian that was very nice. And uh, then I was like, but [00:19:00] wait, there’s some special cortina pastry that you found.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: For if you were a Milano or Corina or Corina.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: And, uh, maybe I can find that as well. So there’s a patisserie slash sandwich shop, something that you can eat in that’s on the main drag by the cauldron.
Okay. And I knew where that was and I wasn’t gonna try to go find many other places. And, uh, went in there. And of course, I, I don’t look like I belong in Cortina. Cortina. Needs a certain level of income that your girl just doesn’t have.
Alison Brown: Most people don’t have the level of income that Cortina requires.
Jill Jaracz: Right, exactly. So I do not think she was thrilled with me asking her what this PT thing is. I got one of those, do you want it warmed? Are you gonna take it away? So she warmed it up. It didn’t warm all the way through. Because I ate it right away. It was not warm. And, uh, got a cookie that was like a heart [00:20:00] and had, uh, a cutout of a heart and jelly filling on the inside.
Oh, so
Alison Brown: like Alin tarp?
Jill Jaracz: Yes, exactly. But that’s not what you had found, I think.
Alison Brown: No, it was a different fried dough version pastry kind of thing.
Jill Jaracz: Hmm. Still looking for it.
Alison Brown: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: Um, also, next time we go, well next time we, next time I go up there, I have to stop at some association that closed at 11 o’clock and I found it at 1132 because they have in the window dictionaries of the games in different languages so I could get an English Italian dictionary of the games.
I think those are freebies.
Alison Brown: Oh, even better.
Jill Jaracz: I know. So that’s on my list to go. There’s a, a Casa Venita now.
Alison Brown: Oh,
Jill Jaracz: that’s for, I guess a, a region
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Here. Yes.
Alison Brown: Venita region.
Jill Jaracz: And, uh, there’s a lot of paper products there. So a. I did bring some home, [00:21:00] ’cause I do like my paper.
Alison Brown: You do love paper.
Jill Jaracz: Um, they had totes there somewhere.
I don’t know how to get one. And then when I was there, somebody was giving a presentation about like investment into the region. Nice kind of thing. So there’s, there’s not a ton of stuff, but it’s mostly tourist and brochures and, and trying to promote their region. But I was like, oh, something else to do.
Nice. Um. And what else did I do? And, and that was about it. It was then I was like, well, you gotta go to curling now. And that’s when I was going through security and getting my DOPP kit checked, and you texted me and said, oh, I’m just getting something to eat at the media center. I’ll be right there. I’m like, I’m not gonna tell you I’m not sitting down yet.
So I set up my seat. I went in and I set up a seat and I pulled everything out and
Alison Brown: made up. Look, you lied. Lied to me.
Jill Jaracz: I didn’t answer you.
Alison Brown: No, you just said great. Yeah, that’s right. Which was fine because I didn’t know where you were. I wasn’t sure if you were in the [00:22:00] venue or in the media center. So I went to the venue first ’cause I was going to eat.
Breakfast actually. Mm-hmm. Because now I know don’t eat the breakfast before you get on the bus.
Jill Jaracz: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: No matter what time the bus is.
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: So it was like 1230 and I hadn’t eaten yet, so I needed breakfast, um, which was fine ’cause I had slept in a little bit. And so I went to the media center first figuring I’d be happier eating there where they have a little luncheon area.
Um, and in case I wanted more food, I could always get it there as well. Mm-hmm. So. I wasn’t checking up on you.
Jill Jaracz: No, you were telling me. You,
Alison Brown: I was just letting you know where I was. Yes. And I, I understood that. And since you weren’t in the media center, I figured you were in the venue. I didn’t know you were wandering Corina.
I know. Having all these Corina bread based adventures.
Jill Jaracz: It was, well, it was fun to see a little bit. I mean, I was one street over, but seeing different stuff in the city, uh. This association that’s got the little dictionary had also like an old school helmet [00:23:00] that had Olympic rings on it. They had speed skates there.
There’s all this other stuff that, that you kind of stumble on and when you have the time to, to look around, which was fun. And I, I didn’t want you to know that I did that,
Alison Brown: but you couldn’t tell me that
Jill Jaracz: right? Until right now. Gotta save it for the show. Alright. Um, what else we’re saving is, will we or won’t we be able to go to pair of ice hockey this, uh, Sunday,
Alison Brown: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday,
Jill Jaracz: right.
For the medals, uh, we do have a grand finale, one 50 campaign. Things are looking very good.
Alison Brown: Let’s just put it that way,
Jill Jaracz: right? Things are looking good, but we’re still trying to make it too. Para of ice hockey metal games because our transportation situation is lousy. And basically we, we can’t get to the metal games because of the trains that are allotted to us.
And [00:24:00] when we go to para of ice hockey in general, we can travel six hours to see two periods of a game.
Alison Brown: So we need funds to pay for trains that we should have included on our cards, but we don’t.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. So if you go to flame alive pod.com, you’ll see a little support the show support Milan Cortina stuff. A popup might show up, and if you, uh, click on that and just throw a few bucks, we’re chipping it.
Everybody’s contributing. We, we’ve got a whole bunch of people who have hopped on and said, yes, we want, we, we want
Alison Brown: a show from the train
Jill Jaracz: basically is what we want. A show from the train. Uh, it, but if you, if you do that, that will help guarantee that we have another odd location to record from and we, who knows, we might record from the bus, maybe not Giacomo in the morning.
Alison Brown: No Giacomo in the morning. We cannot, because my whole focus on Giacomo in the morning is to get there. Without being [00:25:00] sick in the evening, I’m less worried. ’cause then at least we’re like, we’re coming back
Jill Jaracz: and we’re going down somehow
Alison Brown: and we’re going down. Going down is a little
Jill Jaracz: less treacherous
Alison Brown: than going
Jill Jaracz: up.
Alison Brown: No, I, no, I think it’s ’cause it’s not Giacomo. Yeah. Hey, that makes it less ur. Hey, hey jackal him and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Hey, that’s what he sounds like too.
Jill Jaracz: You’re
Alison Brown: all gonna die on my boss.
Jill Jaracz: So, you know if, if grand finale one 15 campaign does well, there might be some bus recording as well working on it. So. Fly My ipod.com. Thank you to everybody who has donated so far. We so appreciate it and I’m pretty amazed that you like the Train show.
Alison Brown: The train show was a hit. Who knew?
Jill Jaracz: Right? Who knew?
Alright, results for today.
Alison Brown: Para Across Country. We only got two [00:26:00] sports going on today. We got para cross country and wheelchair curling. So Para Cross Country today was all the 10 kilometer. Um. Interval start. Now that we know what this is stands for, we got some weird abbreviations that we’re all trying to figure out.
So first up is the women’s sitting category. Gold went to Shuk Stan and USA Ana Masters Silver went to Korea’s Young g Kim and Bronze also went to Shuk Stan in USA for Kendall Grech. So Sana won by about 20 seconds, which on an interval start is. It might as well be a year.
Jill Jaracz: Right. This is crazy. And and we were like, how old is she?
And she’s 36. 36. Which is incredible, the shape she is in. And how she does this sheer round.
Alison Brown: Yes, yes. She just does the summer and, and winter and just keeps going. I thought what was interesting was this little quote because the, [00:27:00] the woman has now 22 Paralympic medals and in her mind she said, quote, I have for sure a lot of unfinished business from Beijing and all the cross country.
I feel it is my focus to upgrade those silvers to gold. She’s got 22 metal. And yet she still has this fire to do more, do better, improve her results.
Jill Jaracz: That is
Alison Brown: amazing. Which is the reason she has 22 medals,
Jill Jaracz: right? Uh. Alright. We also have the Men’s 10 kilometer interval. Start sitting gold. Went to Russia’s, Yvonne Goov Silver went to MW from China and Bronze went to Jang Pen from China, whose name I recognize.
Alison Brown: Yes, he was around in uh, Beijing. So we, we will see that name again. And we talked before about how is China doing on the metal table? China’s doing just fine on the metal table. They have 26 metals.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: So far and away, uh, [00:28:00] number one on the table.
Jill Jaracz: Interesting that that investment that they made into 2022 is paying off.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: And I would not be surprised if they saw the opportunity to dominate Parasport.
Alison Brown: Right. And
Jill Jaracz: put some money where their mouth was, uh, in the 10 women’s 10 kilometer classic interval. Start standing. Gold one to Shuk Ani Sidney Peterson, which is her fifth Paralympic medal, but first individual gold. Yes.
So that’s good. And she won by 2.6 seconds.
Alison Brown: Not much.
Jill Jaracz: Not much,
Alison Brown: not much. This is, that’s a more normal,
Jill Jaracz: right. And, and the interval start is hard to figure out where you’re sta where you are standing in the standings.
Alison Brown: Right. And then the factor time comes into play. Yes. So your second isn’t always a second.
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Alison Brown: So it get. Gets even more confusing when they’re giving the athletes split times because they’re having to do the math right as you go along, which has gotta be tricky.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well, as somebody who has tried to do [00:29:00] math while, like on my bicycle, like I try to figure out sometimes like how fast I’m going and how many, you know, where am I gonna be in so many miles?
Yeah, that doesn’t work. I do not do well at that. So if you’re trying. Especially with factor time. And if factor time is weird to you, go find our substack at substack dot flame life pod.com. Yes. Alison wrote, or it’s at our website now too, flame life pod.com. It’s on the blog. Uh, Alison wrote a great article about what factor time is and broke it down to very simple.
Understanding ’cause it’s a wild concept.
Alison Brown: It is. But once you see the example, it’ll make perfect sense.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. Uh, so again, Sidney Peterson won gold in this race. Silver went to, uh, Ilda Nielsen from Norway and bronze went to Brittany Hueck from Canada.
Alison Brown: What I thought was funny is people are trying to say the conditions are bad without saying the conditions are bad.
So, uh, Sydnee Peterson [00:30:00] said she went out really hard because I knew it was going to take everything I had to win today.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, it’s, it’s, yeah, really bad conditions now. Everything is slushy. There is a lot of green in Cortina, well, not green, but a lot of, no snow in Cortina. A
Alison Brown: lot of brown.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It’s, it’s really getting worse and it rained today.
Which is not great. We ran into Noah Elliot, the snowboarder who said to us, oh, hey, they might move our competition up one day. Keep an eye on that.
Alison Brown: Right? ’cause I said, oh, Saturday for you. And he said, might be Friday.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So,
Alison Brown: and that’s all because of the weather?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. The weather has been really, really rough.
Uh, it was hard in Beijing too because it got really warm and slushy, and that’s just not fair to the athletes. Mm-hmm. There’s a, a CBC article. I’ll try to remember to put in the show notes, uh, where they’re talking about just how bad the conditions are and how, uh, what a disservice that does to pair of athletes because they’re trying to show their abilities and they [00:31:00] can’t show them on course conditions that are just this bad, bad, um.
So that’s not fun. They’re talking about should the IOC and the IOC is considering this too, do we move up the dates of the Olympics and Paralympics, or do we maybe integrate them so that we can have better conditions? Because because of climate change, winter is getting harder and harder to find., We’re still in cross country
in the men’s 10 kilometer classic interval, start standing gold. Went to Carl Tabare from France, silver went to Roman Denka from Belarus and Bronze. Went to Mark errands from Canada.
Alison Brown: Yes, and Carl Tabare won by 28.6 seconds.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Alison Brown: Yeah, that’s again, a lifetime. So yes. And yesterday I mentioned people complaining about being so tired and, and poor Carl Tab said he’s extremely tired.
I’m [00:32:00] feeling very, very tired. So he’s very glad to have a rest day tomorrow. These competitions are tough because they are tight.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Alison Brown: They really try to pack all these biathlon and cross country, and a lot of athletes do both, and it’s a lot of races in a very few number of days.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And if you’re using.
Your legs for everything. It’s really tough if you’re using your arms to propel you at all times. It’s tough pulling through that slosh.
Alison Brown: Right. And then Exactly. Because the conditions are so hard. It’s not easy gliding, they’re, they’re slogging through this right now
Jill Jaracz: and all the alpine skiers happy to have a day off.
Yes. Lemme tell you that.
In the Women’s 10 kilometer classic, visually impaired gold went to Anastasia Bagian from Russia. That’s her second Gold of the Games. Silver went to Simona B, uh, Kova from Czechia and bro went to Leona. Maria Valter from Germany.
Alison Brown: Yeah, [00:33:00] vaulter, who was disqualified yesterday for the, uh, infringing on the classic style.
So she ended up back on the, uh. Uh, podium, which was good. And she too described the conditions as very strong and heavy. And Bokova said hard conditions. The snow was super wet and super slow. I mean, we’re beating this dead horse for a reason because this is unfair to the athletes that they’re. Winter does not last until mid-March anymore.
Certainly not in in Europe. Maybe in some places in Canada it does. Maybe some places in the French Alps it’ll do a little bit better, but I don’t think so. I think we’re really gonna have to readjust some of these dates, right, so that the Paralympians get. The conditions they deserve.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And the other part about this, we talked a lot in the Olympics about people getting personal best times and personal best times.
And if you know, there’s only three medals at play and there’s a lot more athletes than that. And being able to do your best at the biggest stage. [00:34:00] Would be lovely. But if they can’t do that, then it’s just more frustrating.
Alison Brown: Right.
Jill Jaracz: And and demoralizing. And you feel like you didn’t do what you’re capable of doing.
Especially when I think people not only had the pressure of trying to win a medal and doing their best, they had the pressure of. We have to do really well because the Paralympic movement needs to advance
Alison Brown: and at not only the Paralympic movement, but Paralympians themselves need their, their bonuses for medals.
You know, these, these. I’m about to call ’em kids, but I can’t, you know, these kids, they’re not making money doing this. So getting a medal can be the difference between you’re able to stay in your sport and you have to quit because you can’t afford to continue anymore. Right? And you wanna showcase it on the biggest stage.
In the best way and this ain’t doing it
Jill Jaracz: right and attract more sponsors. And there are some [00:35:00] Paralympians who get at least in the US, picked up by Visa or Eli Lilly or something.
Alison Brown: Or Toyota.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, at few and far between though. And sometimes they take the same names over and over again. Not that they don’t deserve it.
Because by all means, racking the coin while you can paralympians, but there’s not enough to go around for everybody. And we were talk when we were talking in the mix zone with Keith Gable at Paris Snowboard the other day. He said he spent $60,000 this year. On travel and competitions and just getting around.
And that’s, I mean,
Alison Brown: that’s not a joke.
Jill Jaracz: No.
Alison Brown: I mean, that’s a lot of people’s full annual salary plus.
Jill Jaracz: Yes, yes. So, uh, to have a situation where you can’t showcase yourself and show what you’re able to do and, and to get that money that, you know, everybody who’s here wants to be a pro athlete. And they should be able to be a pro athlete.
Alison Brown: Exactly.
Jill Jaracz: And then, [00:36:00] uh, finally back to cross country. I know. Let’s step down off the soapbox. Let’s go back to cross country Men’s 10 kilometer classic, visually impaired gold Went to sh Lasan, Jake aov.
Alison Brown: Hey,
Jill Jaracz: and silver went to Inky Enola from Finland.
Alison Brown: Oh, you know what that means?
Jill Jaracz: Cake,
Alison Brown: celebration, cake.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
And bronze went to Sweden’s Sebastian Moin.
Alison Brown: So this was actually chosen as one of the quotes of the day. You know, in the, in the media zone, they have flash quotes, and that’s usually all the medalists. You get a flash quote, something that they said immediately after the race in the mid zone. And then we get one article as quotes of the day where they pull out a handful of these flash quotes.
And this was one that got pulled out from Jake Ticoff and he said, we got a split in the last lap that we were a minute or something up. And one of the coaches said, relax. And then he also said, rip them to pieces. So we were kind of confused.
Jill Jaracz: How [00:37:00] do you approach that?
Alison Brown: Really? You relax while you tear, I guess.
Jill Jaracz: And then the second sport today was wheelchair curling. We had team in the morning that was, uh, Latvia and Norway faced off Norway, 1 6 5 USAB, Korea nine two. Sweden beat Slovakia. Five, four and China beat Great Britain nine four. The evening session is still ongoing, so we’ll get back to that. But let’s go to the doubles, which had the two medal matches today.
We were there for that. Yes. Oh my gosh. If you have not seen either one of these matches, they’re both incredible.
Alison Brown: Really, really good curling, very up and down emotion wise. MLO makes an appearance.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. That was great.
Alison Brown: So that’s always good. So it seems like he only shows up if there’s a medal at in play. I guess so.
Which, you know, is a little disappointing that he’s that kind of sto. But we got such a good high energy crowd today. [00:38:00]
Jill Jaracz: Great crowd. Um, a lot of the team, USA athletes who were off were in for, uh, hanging out and I think that happened in other, other contingents as well. There was a big section for Korea, a big section for China.
Um,
Alison Brown: LA
Jill Jaracz: Lafayette had section a nice crowd.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So it was a lot of fun to have more cheering all the time kind of thing going on for every team involved. Um. I, I was paying attention to USA Latvia, you were paying more attention to Korea, China, which was the gold medal match.
Alison Brown: Yes. So, we’ll, should we do that one first?
I guess so. Okay. We’ll do the gold medal first. So I, I’m gonna skip to the end and then go backwards. So, China did win the gold medal. They won, uh, nine seven, but they needed an extra end to do it, and they jumped out right at the beginning with a three point first end and China. The one thing you’ll notice when you watch them play is they do love a takeout.
They do love to slam the rocks around. They are [00:39:00] not gentle, they are amazing, but they are a, a rough team, I guess is the word I’m looking for. They, they, they really like to knock it about, um. In the, by the end of the third they were up five, one, and then China seemed like it started to play keep away, like prevent defense sacrificing some of their own stones just to make sure Korea didn’t score.
Well, guess what? As we all know, prevent defense doesn’t work. So Korea comes roaring back. It’s seven, six. By the end of the seventh it’s tied seven, seven. At the end of the eighth and we’ve gotta go into an extra end. And Korea made good shots. They didn’t make great shots and they needed a couple of great shots to win.
So China came away with the with the gold and we’re thrilled. Just so excited. So they are the first gold medalists. In doubles curling, which is pretty exciting. But chorea has nothing to [00:40:00] hang its head on. I mean, this was quite a match. They really took it down to the wire. I mean, what happens when you gotta go to an extra end?
You can’t be much closer than that.
Jill Jaracz: No, and it was really exciting to kind of have that over on the side. ’cause every once in a while when there was a break and play in the game, I was focused on could watch over there and, ugh. So close. Yes, just really good curling, which is, which is the best part of, of watching a game.
Um, I was watching USA for Shuksan, Steve Empt and Laura Dwyer, uh, versus Latvia and. Oh my gosh, what a match This was.
Alison Brown: This was amazing. ’cause I too was sneaking looks in the breaks of my game as well.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, so coming out, so excited, so hyped. They could win Bronze first end USA scores four and I think we are here to play.
This is great. [00:41:00] Second end Latvia scores. Five. I could not believe that. And then it was like, okay, uh, there was a little back and forth and six USA scores four. So we are getting right back into it. Then we get lavia scores three. So we are on a, um, wait, hold on it. It’s nine to 10. Latvia’s winning. And USA has to score in the eighth end and they are sitting on a potential to score multiple points and win.
Laura Dwyer’s our last shot and she shoots very well, but they only pick up one point, so we are in extra ends. And again, stuff is lining. It’s a little tighter ’cause Latvia’s looking like they could win something. [00:42:00] Laura shoots perfectly and the ice doesn’t let it go. So, uh, shot just doesn’t tap Latvia’s stone out of the way that they had planned.
And Latvia wins 11 to 10.
Alison Brown: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: And it’s so sad and self crushing, but oh my gosh, this game was so amazing.
Alison Brown: It was great. And it was good. It’s good for wheelchair curling to have this doubles tournament be so exciting. Mm-hmm. And come down to the wire, the semifinals were good. Both these medal matches were good.
Mm-hmm. Um, and that speaks to, to how good the doubles curling really is in the tournament.
Jill Jaracz: Right, right. Because yeah, that second N was like, oh, Laffy. Here to play too and, and to get us coming back with a huge end in the sixth. Just said, okay, we are back into it. It is possible. And, and then it just, the ice was.
Fickle today, ice was really, really [00:43:00] fickle and you know, it’s gonna be tough. It’s a hard, hard loss when you lose the bronze medal match. Right. Just makes me wanna cry.
Alison Brown: I
Jill Jaracz: know. Not gonna lie. They are a. Extremely special team to watch and the energy that comes off of them and the way they communicate and the way stuff just was lining up during this tournament, they should be so proud.
Alison Brown: It is the best finish for USA wheelchair curling. Yeah. That. That they’ve had at the Paralympics. So that’s USA wheelchair curling has never been in a position to play in a medal game before. So the fact that they came this close is amazing. Yes. And says so much for the improvement in the program. And that doubles really is special with, with Laura and Steve.
Mm-hmm. They just have a special. Uh, energy on the ice. I mean, you said that. And, and as, uh, you know, just sometimes lightning in a bottle. Yeah. Where you get two partners together who really know how to, how to [00:44:00] work.
Jill Jaracz: Right. And they haven’t been together super long.
Alison Brown: No.
Jill Jaracz: And to have this happen is just, they should be super proud.
And I know it hurts. Oh my gosh. It hurts. And Steve’s been, you know, Paralympics number three. You really, really want to get on that podium, I’m sure. But sometimes, oh my gosh, the patience.
Alison Brown: Come on guys. 2030,
Jill Jaracz: please. It’s
Alison Brown: not that far. Not that far.
Jill Jaracz: It’s
Alison Brown: not that far. Not that far.
Jill Jaracz: But you know, it feels very far tonight.
It does. It really does. And you just want that, that story to get the ending. That they deserve. Yeah. And it, just talking to them has been ki I feel like it’s been a privilege to get some insight from them and agreed. And get inspired and, and help me work on my own mindset for different things. So
Alison Brown: yeah, very lucky to have the in shuk Stan.
’cause Laura Dwyer’s now part of us. Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: exactly.
Alison Brown: She’s one of us now. Sorry, Laura. So gold goes [00:45:00] to China, silver to Korea, and bronze to Lavia.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. And then we had an evening session tonight in wheelchair curling, which on my screen is only showing two matches. Oh wait, no, no, no, sorry.
Alison Brown: So Italy went, won four to three, Latvia won over Great Britain, eight to five and Slovakian Canada are still playing.
Seven six in the eighth end. Eighth
Jill Jaracz: end. And it looks like Canada is winning it. They just finished so Canada beat Slovakia 9 2 6.
, Tomorrow, Shukla on watch
Alison Brown: is actually nobody because the, , ice hockey team is not playing.
Jill Jaracz: Oh really?
Alison Brown: Yes.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, wow. So it is,
Alison Brown: so we got no shiftless on tomorrow. It’s a break for us.
Jill Jaracz: They get a break. That’s good for them. Well deserved. They’ve been working hard conditions here
Alison Brown: and, and, and winning medals for us.
Jill Jaracz: That’s right. That’s right. But we do have shout outs today.
Alison Brown: We do. So first up is David [00:46:00] Davis who wished us. Travel safe and enjoy the games
Jill Jaracz: and not a David Davis who is a Paralympian, but there is a Ross Davis from the USA who is a T 34 class Sprinter, competed in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta, 1996, Sydney 2002, golds four silvers, three bronzes in the is spanning 100 meters to 800 meters.
I do not know how you do it.
Alison Brown: That’s wild.
Jill Jaracz: And then next up
Alison Brown: is Tommy Phillips from Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He’s author of the book, the 1980 Moscow Olympics,
Jill Jaracz: which is on the table ready for me to read when we get home from this. I’m excited to fill in the big black hole that is Moscow, 1980 in my brain.
So thank you Tommy, for writing that. Quite like Dave Phillips, para archery from Green Great Britain, who. Return to archery in 2014 after a 30 year break and competed at Rio of [00:47:00] 2016 in the mixed team event.
Alison Brown: Yikes. That, that’s, that’s a long time to take a break.
Jill Jaracz: That is a long time
Alison Brown: to, he could have grown another archer.
He could have like, you know, had a baby and he did and raised another one. Yeah, maybe he did. And last up is Sitka from Boston, Massachusetts,
Jill Jaracz: and not quite a Paralympian, but there is an uh, researcher at Amsterdam, USC, named Sitka Luton, who is a researcher in movement, human movement sciences and epidemiology. And she, includes adaptive sports in her research.
Alison Brown: Excellent.
Jill Jaracz: And we have a mascot.
Alison Brown: We have a mascot. The gorgeous daisy who loves to dress up apparently, because there is treats involved.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well,
Alison Brown: she’s very, she is a very smart cat.
Jill Jaracz: Hey Lori, I’ll dress up if there are treats involved. Can we make me look nice enough to shop in Corina without getting a dirty look?
Alison Brown: Well, [00:48:00] Daisy belongs to Laura and Lily, so there’s a flower theme going on in that house. But thank you so much for supporting the fundraiser that got us to Italy and for sharing Daisy with us.
She’s quite a beautiful little girl.
Jill Jaracz: Exactly. So that is going to do it for this episode. If you would like even more on the most fun coverage of the games, hit us up. We are@flamealivepod.com. That is your source for our socials newsletter and direct ways to contact us. Join our Facebook group. That is where we’re posting things first and chatting with people except for the pictures I took of my culture, culture journey today.
’cause I didn’t want you to see them, but I got pictures.
Alison Brown: You can post them now since now I know where you were all day. Exactly. Lying to me about going to curling.
Jill Jaracz: That is keep, keep the Flame Alive Podcast group. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for what we forgot to tell you about today ’cause I’ve already remembered, but I’m saving it for tomorrow.
So,
Alison Brown: and until next time, chow. And keep the flame [00:49:00] alive.