It’s our last episode before we head to Italy to cover the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics! Are we ready? NO! Yet, we are ready to learn a little more about some of the sports we’ll see at these Games.
We got to chat with today’s guests at the Team USA Media Summit in October 2025. First up, we got to reconnect with TKFLASTANI Steve Emt. Steve is heading to his third Paralympics, this time in the new event of doubles wheelchair curling. We talked with Steve about the transition from team to doubles, and how much has changed for him over the last quad.
Next, we have tape about the Milano Cortina snowboard course from Jaelin Kauf. Jaelin won a silver medal in women’s moguls in Beijing 2022. She is the reigning world champion in women’s dual moguls, an event making its debut in Milano-Cortina. This will be her third Olympics.
Paralympic snowboarder and prosthetist Mike Schultz talked snowboarding prosthetics with us. Mike is a three-time paralympic medalist in snowboard banked slalom and snowboard cross. He is the author of Driven to Ride. Mike’s prosthetics, the Moto Knee and Versa Foot, are used by the entire U.S. snowboard team.
Finally we chatted with Noah Elliott. Noah Elliott is a two-time Paralympian winning a gold in banked slalom and bronze in snowboard cross at Pyeongchang 2018. We spoke with Noah about snowboard and his grueling recovery from revision surgery to his residual limb.
In Milano Cortina 2026 news, Hershey’s is debuting chocolate gold medals. Milano Cortina will have fan zones across all venue clusters. And we learn about more Olympic Opening Ceremony performers. Also, the Organizing Committee has released an anniversary poster celebrating the Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 Winter Olympics. You can buy it at:
- La Cooperativa di Cortina, Corso Italia 40 – Cortina d’Ampezzo
- Libreria Sovilla, Piazza Silvestro Franceschi 11 – Cortina d’Ampezzo
- Milano Cortina 2026 online store
If you live in Australia’s Gold Coast, Dreamworld has become the Australian Olympic Committee’s official theme park. They’re scheduling a watch party for February 17. Check their site for details.
Plus, we have news from Team Keep the Flame Alive!
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
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429-Olympic Snowboard, Paralympic Snowboard and Wheelchair Curling with Team USA
Theme Music
Jill Jaracz: Hello and welcome to another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics.
If you love the games, we are the show for you. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co-host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?
Alison Brown: I’m.
I’m a, I’m a little scared.
Jill Jaracz: You and me both sister. We are, we are recording on [00:01:00] Monday, January 26th because by the time you listen to this, I will be on a plane on route, hopefully. Thank you, snowstorm. But I’ll be on a plane en route to, uh, Cort, uh, Milan. Not Cortina. We may never see Cortina.
Alison Brown: That’s true.
That’s it’s going. Oh,
Jill Jaracz: I got, oh, I didn’t tell you this offline. I got some big maps of northern Italy. Not going to biathlon.
Alison Brown: It’s
Jill Jaracz: very far away and very tiny roads. I, I see the road on the map go from big to small to smaller to the road that gets you into biathlon.
Alison Brown: No thank you. I don’t want you underneath an avalanche. No, just because you needed to see biathlon.
Jill Jaracz: I know, I know. But I am bummed. I am bummed that it is so far away. But even though, will we, we will be across an ocean from home. We’ll be closer to some of you listeners, which is exciting. [00:02:00] I’m still scared.
You’re going to your home people.
Alison Brown: I am going to my people. This is the first time I’ve ever been to Italy, so I’m actually a little scared about this. Like, what if I get there and they all hate me?
Jill Jaracz: Well, they’re not all gonna hate you. First off, that’s not gonna happen. You were too lovable to be hated.
Alison Brown: But I’m not speak of the language
Jill Jaracz: well, but you can put on a good Father Guido Sarducci accent there.
Alison Brown: I speak of the language of pasta.
Jill Jaracz: Ah, ah, well. So we will be over there. We’ll be far from home, but you will still be able to get in touch with us. We’ll have the Daily Substack newsletter that is at Flame Alive pod.substack.com. With different stuff than what we talk about on the show. There will be new and exciting content there, so be sure to [00:03:00] sign up for that. Free. Free. We’ll be hanging out in the Keep The Flame Alive Podcast Facebook group.
Always a fun place. We will put stuff on Instagram. Likely yes, I might be. I might be hanging out on X and maybe in the Substack feed. Don’t know. Yes. But those will be secondary places. We are at a flame alive pod at all of those.
Alison Brown: That’s the plan.
Jill Jaracz: And then patrons, if you are a Patreon patron, you’ll get more, more on that later on in the show.
But first.
Alison Brown: We have our interviews for this week all from I the USA Media Summit. So we gathered back to the gathering of all things Team USA,
Steve Emt interview
Jill Jaracz: exactly. And first we are welcoming back wheelchair curler Steve Emt. Steve is heading to his third Paralympics this time in the new event of doubles wheelchair curling.
We talked with Steve about the transition from team to doubles and how much has changed for him [00:04:00] over the last quad. Take a listen.
Steve Emt: Paralympics fans. I love it. I love it. So how are we doing?
Alison Brown: Good. Are you home and commuting in or did they put you up for
Steve Emt: No, I’m just, I’m, I’m in Wisconsin now, so Oh yeah. Oh, how? But I just got back from Scotland. Like I was in Scotland two days ago, so I don’t know where I am right now. Oh, fair enough.
Yeah. That’s total, yeah. Lights and my bags somewhere in the world. It’s, oh, man. Yeah. No, I live in Wisconsin now.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. For the record, let’s say your, say your uh, name, please. Steve T. All right. Okay. You are now in Wisconsin, Steve. I live
Steve Emt: in Wisconsin, yep. Been there the last two years.
Jill Jaracz: Where in Wisconsin? I
Steve Emt: live in Deforest.
It’s about 10 miles. 10 minutes outside of Madison.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay. Southern Wisconsin. Yeah.
Alison Brown: Yep. And why the move? I assume it’s curling related, closer to
Steve Emt: the team. Yeah. I was traveling out there from the East coast anyways, you know, twice a month. It just got expensive, so I said, you know what? I packed my dog up.
We drove across the country and it was one of the best moves I’ve ever made. Midwest Nice is a thing for sure. And it’s a little bit different in New [00:05:00] England. Little, just a little bit.
Alison Brown: Just a little bit. Um, go ahead. We wanted to talk pairs versus team and how that differs physically and mentally, and how that works for you.
Steve Emt: it, it really works. Uh, my teammate in the pairs, Lord Dwyer, uh, we’re twins. And she is cut from the same cloth as I am. I love my four person team and I care about them. I want them to succeed. I might end up there. We have trials coming up in a couple weeks, so if, if we don’t make it through, I’m not gonna talk about that.
Um, I might, I’ll end up in a four person team. But when you have, just the game of curling is so mental and you have to factor in everything else besides physical ability. When you’re in a four person team, there’s three other personalities you have to deal with. Lack of a better term, work with, uh, shape, form, mold.
But Laura and I are cut from the same cloth, so we both know that anytime, you know, she’d come up and smack me. I can smack her and What are you doing? Get your head out, you know, and, and start making shots. Um, it’s just, it’s just, it [00:06:00] clicks and we’re doing very well. Uh, we won a national championship last year.
We just won the pretrials a couple weeks ago, so we’re gonna go up to trials here in two weeks in, in Sioux Falls and, and win that and go on to the Paralympics as it pairs.
Alison Brown: How do you balance when you have a doubles competition and a team competition managing, that’s a lot of curling in a short period of time.
Steve Emt: That is, and up until this is the first year with the Paralympics, the IP IPC came down and said, we cannot do both. Uh, in years past with the worlds actually every year before this year, you could play both. You could, you could literally have a four person team in the morning fall by pairs four person.
And that’s, that is a lot of curling and mentally, you know, and, and my sp I find a lot of time I get off the ice and I, I have to shut it down and go dark for, you know, 30 minutes sitting and just reset. Um. So when you’re playing, when you’re playing both, it’s, it’s difficult. That’s not the case right now.
So right now we’re basically for coaches fo focusing on the four-person team, keeping that separate from the mixed doubles team. [00:07:00] So, you know, we were in, we were in Scotland last week for mixed doubles tournament. There was also one of our four-person teams there. So, you know, we’d watch them play and then we’d go out and, and play ourselves afterwards.
So there’s really nothing right now that I have to worry about as far as. Overload mentally, physically, emotionally. Um, Laura and I are locked in. I, I’m concentrated on Laura right now. All I care about is Laura. I, like I said, I love my team, but all I care about is Laura. Right now. We’re gonna go out and take care of business here in a couple weeks.
Alison Brown: So in trials, you have to choose.
Steve Emt: We technically in the United States, there’s a Ted Stevens act, the right to compete. Um, again, before the IPC came down and said, we, uh, Lauren and I could say, Hey, we’re gonna win mixed doubles. We’re gonna play in that and we’re gonna go on a first person team. We can’t do that this year.
So there’s really no choice. Um. Once whoever wins the mixed doubles is gets automatically pulled out of the pool. Right now we have 12, 10 athletes competing, 8, 12, 12 athletes competing. So once [00:08:00] us four, there’s myself and another team. So four of us are gonna compete for the mixed doubles. So now they have eight, but once the loser, the mixed doubles, they go back into the pool.
Now there’s 10, so there’s the, the committee will choose from those 10 for the five that then go to Italy for the four person team.
Jill Jaracz: What did you think when, uh, they announced that Mixed Doubles was gonna be on the 26th program?
Steve Emt: I, when they announced it, I think I didn’t, it was, I think a couple years ago when I was not a fan of mixed doubles in the beginning.
I’m all about team. I’m all about, you know, bring everybody together, being a leader, um, you know, let’s go out and take care of business. Then I started playing it. I hated it at first. And if my coach were here today, he’d tell you, like, Steve, like you, you’re gonna be a mixed doubles medalist. And a couple years ago you hated the game.
So, um, it’s, but it’s like I said, Laura and I just click on the ice and I don’t have to lack of a better term worry about anybody else. I have just worry about one person. And again, that’s a terrible term to use, but I don’t have to worry [00:09:00] about anybody else. So, um, yeah, I’m, I’m excited. I’m really excited.
We’re gonna go up to Sioux Falls, take care of business.
Jill Jaracz: What about mixed doubles didn’t you like and what? Sh How, how did that shift?
Steve Emt: I think it was just the fact it was just me, two people on a team as a, you know, my entire life I’ve been an athlete, as you all know, I’ve been an athlete. My type playing basketball, football, baseball.
There’s 11 people out there. There’s five people out there, there’s nine people out there, and now you want to go, want me to go play a sport with just one other person? And, and if that, at first I was kind of hesitant. ’cause if that the personalities don’t connect, then you have nowhere to hide. I mean, this is me and you on the ice, and if we don’t get along off the ice, we have nowhere to hide.
Four person team. You can kind of hide from that. There’s two other people out there. So that kind of dissuaded me at first, kind of, eh, maybe I don’t wanna do this, but I found the right teammate and Laura and like I said, we click and yeah, looking forward to doing some great things.
Alison Brown: What about her makes her, other than the fact that you, I mean more in a technical way.
Yeah. That makes your games mesh so well.
Steve Emt: Uh, she is eager to learn. [00:10:00] She needs, she’s just like me being a teacher for 20 years, you know, it’s always student will come to my desk, say, Mr. M, how do we, you know, you know, how do we do this? I said, well, you know, what’s the outcome? What, what are you trying to get to?
And then we work backwards. She’s exactly the same way, so she’s just like me. You know, there’s a shot. She loves to learn. She loves to know the why behind everything. You know, Hey, Laura, we’re gonna hit this right here. And we’re like, well, why? I’m like, well, well, you can’t ask that right now, Laura. We’re in a major competition, you know, ask that last week or next week, you know, we’ll watch film tonight.
Uh, but she, she just varies. She’s a sponge. She wants to soak it up. And I think being a teacher and an educator and a coach, that’s, that’s the kind of people I want to be around. You know, I gimme a classroom full of 13 year olds, I want to learn and I got ’em. Or be on a team with somebody that wants to learn and I got ’em.
So I think that right there is why we click so well. And, um, I’ve been in the game for 11 years. She’s been in for about five now, so she’s still learning and, uh, as I am. Uh, but we compliment each other very well
Jill Jaracz: [00:11:00] for Milan. Corina, have you been on the ice there?
Steve Emt: I’ve never been in. Okay.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, this is exciting.
Ooh, tell me about it. Don’t go. Let’s
Steve Emt: talk. I’m gonna start getting emotional. Don’t do it.
Jill Jaracz: Um, but it’s, it’s an arena. Yeah. So arena ice is different than a curling. Specialized curling venue. Ice it is, doesn’t matter. It is, unless you get
Steve Emt: world ice makers there. Oh, well, there you go. Okay. Yeah, a normal curling club.
Like I curled one time in an arena, I think up in Massachusetts for a charity event, and I would never do it again ’cause it’s, it’s not the same ice. However, when we go to these world events, they bring in the best ice makers in the world. Come in, they flood it 15 times, pebble, and it’s pristine. It’s beautiful ice.
It’s gonna be great. It is gonna be like, woohoo. Yeah.
Alison Brown: Well on that, when you go to competitions at the level of Paralympics and, and international. You do have this perfect ice, but probably when you’re practicing, you’re not always practicing on perfect ice. And how does that mess with tactics and, and
Steve Emt: [00:12:00] style?
That’s very important. I’m one of the reasons I moved to Madison, Wisconsin was to be closer to the team, but also to get on championship ice. We have some of the best ice in the country. Uh, we just had an ice maker retire and he, the new ice guy is just as good. Um, some of my teammates clubs, the ice is not.
As good as I have in Madison. But that’s important in the sport of Kone. ’cause yeah, we’re hoping we’re probably gonna get the best ice in the world in Cortina Milano, but maybe not. Maybe one day it’s warmer than usual, or just 10,000 people in the stands instead of a thousand. That affects the ice and it’s gonna slow it down.
So it’s very important with the sport to be able to train on different conditions of ice so that when that does happen in the game, you’re ready for it and you can adjust accordingly.
Alison Brown: How have you changed as a curler since the lead up to Beijing to now?
Steve Emt: I’ve matured very much. I now have the attitude where I, it’s, it’s not about winning medals for me.
Um, it’s about the process and I take that and everything I do, it’s about with curling specifically my, [00:13:00] my roll up, my setting, my breaks, my grabbing my pre-shot routine. Do it over and over because once that stone is off the stick, it’s gone. I can’t control it anymore. I can’t do that. So I’ve, I’ve learned that just in the last two or three years.
I think it’s a big part of that was a move to Wisconsin, uh, Midwest. Nice. It’s, it’s a thing. Um, I, I, so my, my philosophy in life now is just, you know, hey, do what you’re capable of doing. Control what you can control. Once that stone’s off the stick, it’s gone. And that’s made me a better curler. Uh, it’s made me a better teammate.
It’s made me a better leader. I think you can ask my team, you can ask my coaches. Uh, my sports psychologist who we work with a lot, incredible services by USA Curlin and U-S-O-P-C. Uh, I think they would all agree that I am a, a better teammate now and a better person because of, you know, something that kicked in the last two years.
Moving to Wisconsin, worrying about the process, you know, process every day. You know, once. You know, traffic outta your control. Uh, my chair, my bag right now is somewhere in the world. I have no idea. I just got back from Scotland. You know, I’ve, [00:14:00] I’ve slept like three hours in the last three days. Uh, I’ve been rerouted all around the world.
I have no idea where my bag is. It’s outta my control. You know, I know it’ll show up in my apartment someday, uh, hopefully soon, but it’s outta my control. So I think, you know, Beijing, I was still Pyeongchang, I was bad. Pyeongchang. I, I win win. Win a Paralympian. Win, win win. Uh, Beijing got a little bit better.
But in the last two years, it’s come completely, 180 and I’m, I’m in a real good place right now. In all parts of my life
Alison Brown: and to close ’cause they’re waving at us. Can you get any pizza though, in Madison?
Steve Emt: Can’t Yeah, I get pizza anywhere. Just the, the, yeah. Oh my God. The level of it, the goodness of it. I mean, I, I am a pizza junkie so you left
Alison Brown: New Haven.
Steve Emt: I you’re absolutely right. I left Pepe’s and all them good places. Yep. But, um, no, it is great. Madison is great. It’s a great, great place, great capital, and there’s a lot of great things to do. So.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. Thank you. Alright, so good to see you. Good luck at trials. Yeah,
Steve Emt: yeah, yeah. Two weeks in Sioux Falls so
Jill Jaracz: we’ll be cheering [00:15:00] for you.
We’re telling everybody I appreciate
Steve Emt: it so much. Thank you. Really appreciate you guys. I’m glad you all reached out. We got to do this. Yes,
Jill Jaracz: definitely get another, get
Steve Emt: another.
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much, Steve.
Jaelin Kauf previews the moguls course at Milano Cortina 2026
Jill Jaracz: Next up we have Jalen Kauf. Jalen won a silver medal in women’s moguls in Beijing 2022. She is the reigning world champion in women’s dual moguls In the event making its debut in Milano Cortina, this will be her third Olympics. And I will say this is just a couple of minutes from when I was at her round table where, uh, athletes sit at a desk and, and.
They are surrounded by reporters who just toss questions to them. So this is, uh, her talking about the course in, uh, Milano Cortina, which I thought you’d be interested in learning about. Take a listen.
Reporter 1: Jalen, I don’t, I don’t know the support well enough to know about like how different track courses are from place to place. But what about this venue? Have you been on it, is it different? Is it, does it pose challenges or.
Jaelin Kauf: Yeah, so we had our World Cup finals there this last season, and so that was the first [00:16:00] time, um, any of us have been able to compete on that course, see the venue, um, and all that.
And it was a great course. Um, I really enjoyed skiing it. Um, it’s pretty long and pretty steep, which I love. I think that brings out the best skiers if it puts on the best event. Um, but, you know, every, every year, every course is gonna be slightly different. So I, who knows exactly what it’ll, what it’ll be like when you show up in February.
Um, but I think it should be a really, really good Olympic course for us.
Reporter 1: What do you think dual logos is gonna bring to the Olympics?
Jaelin Kauf: Um, I mean, I, I think people are gonna love duals at the Olympics. It’s such a good spectator event. Um, you know, there are really tight races where. I don’t even know how the judges decide, but I think what’s so great about duals is one, you can watch the whole event standing at the bottom of the course, [00:17:00] and a lot of the times, whether you know anything or everything about mogul skiing, like you still have a pretty good idea and understanding of what run was.
Better. You know, it’s, it’s something that your average joke can, can pick out and kind of judge themselves, which I think is really cool. About the event. Anything new with you since the last Olympics? Life or on snow? Um, not, uh, not a whole lot, I don’t think. Still. Yeah. Doing the same, same thing. .
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much, Jalen.
Mike Schultz interview
Jill Jaracz: Next up we have Mike Schultz. He is a three-time paralympic medalist and snowboard banked a slalom and snowboard cross. He’s the author of Driven To Ride, which we did read for book club, and if you haven’t, we’ll have the link to that in the show notes. Uh, Mike also creates prosthetics, the moto knee and the versa afoot used by the entire US snowboard team.
Take a listen.
Mike Schultz: We’re totally
Alison Brown: fascinated by prosthetics. So that’s what we wanna talk about is you [00:18:00] building prosthetics. I like to build cool stuff.
Jill Jaracz: Alright, so. When you first started competing in Paris snowboard, what were prosthetics like then?
Mike Schultz: Uh, so at that point, my mo knee in Versa, foot were, a few years in. but it, uh, like the biggest differences from now or from now compared to back then was like the level of performance of. The athletes and the adaptive equipment and, uh, being able to be part of that progression. since 2010 is when I started snowboarding, uh, and then started competing in like 12 and 13.
and then became part of the US team the season after Sochi. And so that was all new to me, like trying to go down a race course and learning how to snowboard at the same time on a prosthetic that I built. yeah, there’s a lot of things, a lot of things happening early on. steep learning curve.
Okay.
Alison Brown: What was different about the prosthetics you were creating versus what existed at the time?
Mike Schultz: I originally built the moto knee and versa [00:19:00] afoot for motocross and snowmobile racing. Like that’s what the purpose was. And after I went to a couple events the first year or two, I realized that there’s so many other athletes that could utilize the technology that I was creating.
cause they’re all using everyday equipment that didn’t work for bikes and snowmobiles. and then there, there was. One or two options that were, uh, fairly known in the ski and snowboard world. but they were very, limited as far as how they could be set up and calibrated. And so when I was developing my moto knee, like one of my goals was to make it as versatile as possible and put extra.
Options for alignment and settings and resistance and all that. Uh, so I could use it for as many sports as possible. So that’s kind of the biggest unique thing about what I’m building is like I’m looking at a bigger picture, not just a specific sport.
Jill Jaracz: So in setting like a, an alignment and resistance, what kind of things are you looking for? Do you need, do you need the need to be able to move much when you’re [00:20:00] snowboarding? ’cause you’ve got like bumps and stuff. So does, it’s gotta have to absorb some shock.
Mike Schultz: Yeah, so there’s, there’s a couple really big variables. With snowboarding specifically, uh, it depends on your stance whether you have your prosthesis in the front or in back. Uh, the alignment is very different. for example, if it’s in the back, you need more flexion in it or more knee bend in it to match the slope or the terrain.
and it needs to be softer because, uh. You need that range of motion and there’s less weight on it actually compared to your front leg when you’re snowboarding. So, the alignment changes in the, the resistance settings are, you know, they’re probably like 40% different between front and back.
Alison Brown: Do most, uh, snowboarders prefer their prosthetic in the front or the back, or is it more right-handed, left-handed, or right footed?
Left footed?
Mike Schultz: Yeah. It’s kind of. Most of the time athletes will just choose what they’re comfortable with. You know, a lot of athletes were injured after they knew how to snowboard already, so they’ll keep their same [00:21:00] stance, uh, for the people that are starting out from scratch. I, I say it, it’s definitely easier to ride with your prosthesis in the front because of the alignment.
Benefits there, it’s more upright, so it’s easier to walk around in. And then you have your back leg, your good leg is able to maneuver up and down quicker and with, with more power to generate speed, specifically like for border cross, going over these rollers and jumps, being able to have that power in your back leg gives you some, some benefits.
Alison Brown: Okay, so you just said you walk around, so during competition you’re keeping that prosthetic. On even when you’re not on the course.
Mike Schultz: Yeah. So like I’ve got an everyday walking leg that works great. the fundamental difference with that compared to what I snowboard in is my everyday leg has to swing back and forth.
Right as you walk. It needs to just swing like a pendulum. but once it’s bent or it’s flexed, there’s nothing that helps it extend. Like there’s no quadricep muscle movement in it. And so my snowboard leg and motocross leg, moto knee, um. Has a [00:22:00] spring in it, which ask a acts just like your, your quadricep
Alison Brown: muscle.
Okay. And then you have the, the Versa afoot. Yep. And is that then the ankle joint? Down.
Mike Schultz: Yeah. So the, the versa of foot was made to flex more than a traditional prosthetic foot. You know, 90% of prosthetic feet are made out of some kind of composite. They’re like a leaf spring. So you put pressure into it and it just bounces real quick.
And you know, it has typically like 10 to 15 degrees of ankle flexion and with the versa foot, and for snowboarding and snow cross snowmobile racing. you need like full range of your ankle, which gives you a, a more balanced platform and it allows your knee to move up and down in proper alignment compared to a non flexible foot.
It just tips up on the toe and then you lose your balance point.
Alison Brown: Has computer and AI or any of those things changed? Like, are there chips in there?
Mike Schultz: Uh, nope. It’s all [00:23:00] mechanical. maybe in the future we’ll look into that, that route. But, um, yeah, right now it’s just, it’s mechanical air pressure, hydraulics, and aluminum parts.
Alison Brown: And how long does one last at the elite level?
Mike Schultz: I, I mean. I’m getting up to like five years out of ’em. but you know, for me personally, since I own the company and I’ve got the whole shop full of parts, you know, I’m, I’m cycling my through. But the cool thing is, so I have one set up for every activity I do.
Like, I’ve got one for the gym, I’ve got one for mountain biking, one for horseback riding, motocross snowmobiles.
Jill Jaracz: Do you have your own prosthetic closet?
Mike Schultz: Uh, I would say it’s, it’s a whole garage. It’s not, it’s not a closet. I
Jill Jaracz: mean, just for your stuff, you have a whole garage, I mean, just for your, your legs.
Yeah. I got like, I got
Mike Schultz: like four cabinets in, in my shop, which my shop is right at my house. So, um, my company BioDapt is based right on my home property, which is very efficient. What
Alison Brown: leg would I like to wear today? Yeah, exactly.
Jill Jaracz: When did figuring out that there [00:24:00] needed to be a frame to help? Fit the prosthetic into a boot happen?
Mike Schultz: well, I guess, um, the foot, the foot was shaped and created in a way that, it had a natural profile so it could fit in in a shoe or a boot. Um, so that wasn’t a real big factor other than. creating a foot in the general shape of, you know, your real foot.
Jill Jaracz: No, I guess what I’m saying is that we were looking at pictures today and when we were doing research, when you look at, uh, a pair of snowboarder, maybe the calf now has a big frame around it so that it fits more into the boot.
Does that make sense? Am I making sense?
Mike Schultz: Yeah. I’m not really following. Okay. I mean, it’s just the, the general. Shape and outline of the prosthesis itself is, you know,
Jill Jaracz: okay. And I’m, yeah, that’s okay.
Alison Brown: Does, does using a prosthetic extend your career as in the prosthetic is taking the abuse, not. Your leg.
Mike Schultz: You know?
I wish that was true. Yeah. [00:25:00]
Alison Brown: Well, to, to also say, I, I mean, you keep extending your career.
Mike Schultz: Yeah. My leg will be the la my leg will, my prosthesis will be standing long before I am, so in that aspect, yeah. Um, but it, it’s like it, you know, that’s why strength and conditioning is so important for well all athletes, but also like one of the things that’s.
Tricky for amputees is all this asymmetrical movement, which, uh, definitely causes issues over time, especially in high impact sports and stuff. So one of the goals is with the prosthetics that I build, is like, how can we build this and calibrate it in a way that. We’re being as balanced as possible when we’re doing our strength and condition training and while we’re snowboarding, just trying to keep that, you know, our frame, our body frame as balanced as possible and that eventually will, ultimately allow us to, to compete longer at a higher level.
Alison Brown: Are most normal people? Normal people, as opposed to you using one prosthetic at a [00:26:00] time or are they having multiples?
Mike Schultz: so in, in our sport para snowboard, there’s three classifications and there’s two. Types of lower limb, , classes. And then there’s an upper limb. And so, for example, I’m in LL one, which is basically means that I’m missing two joints, I’m missing my knee and foot.
And, , some of the other athletes are missing just both feet, but they have both knees. , And then in some cases it, it’s just, uh, comes down to nerve damage or, you know, unable to control legs, you know, because of muscle. Challenges or nerves, nerve challenges.
Alison Brown: But for example, you’ve got your closet full, but do other racers also have multiple versions of the same one, or are they just trusting that one is gonna survive for a season?
Mike Schultz: Well, I, you know, at, at this level, you know, at the most elite level, We all try and have at least two for a backup, right? Because eventually, you [00:27:00] know, we, we, we hit the deck, we crash hard and something bends or twists or breaks or whatever. so like, I’m always, me personally, I have two legs set up ready to go.
So I, if, if something happens, I can swap it out real quick.
Alison Brown: Are you aware prosthetic on the airplane or not wear a prosthetic on the airplane?
Mike Schultz: Yeah, I’ve, I’ve got a prosthetic on from, you know, five minutes after I wake up in the morning till right before I go to bed.
Jill Jaracz: but do you see how, like, when you have a walking prosthetic, it’s usually just a one straight pole, right?
Yeah. I
Mike Schultz: mean,
Jill Jaracz: it, it’s a, and this is more of kind of a frame or there’s more like, uh, is there, are there more angle, like a scaffold thing? Angles. Like a bri? Yeah, like a scaffolding or a bridge. So you have more yes. More. Support.
Mike Schultz: Support? Well, so the framework on the moto knee is, was created around the function of it, right?
So there’s, there’s a mountain bike shock in there and there’s a linkage system that allows it to flex properly. And so, yeah, the mo knee is [00:28:00] unique looking with the framework around it, compared to my everyday walking leg, I think it looks sick. It looks sick. Uh, you know, it’s like, it’s like terminator stuff.
and yeah, that. The design of it was partially for looks and, and mainly for function though, and that’s the shape that comes out. did that answer your question? We, it did
Jill Jaracz: answer my question, but it also asks, and we also ask about money. ’cause stuff costs money. What’s one of these wrong?
Mike Schultz: okay. So like my everyday walking leg mm-hmm.
Which is very sophisticated. It’s got a computer in it and multiple sensors. It’s got a battery, I gotta charge every few days. and that unit will bill out through the insurance companies, you know, around $75,000. The entire leg with the socket, the knee joint, and the foot is gonna be into the six figures, to get set up for snowboarding.
Most of the time insurance companies won’t cover that. So it’s, it’s, you know, cash, cash purchase, or out of pocket I should say. and so like to get set up for snowboarding with [00:29:00] our, our kit is gonna be around 12,000,
Alison Brown: so No, it’s a lot of tech. Yeah, it’s like a motorcycle. It’s a lot of tech. Yeah, it’s a lot of tech.
It’s complicated. What’s the strangest request any athlete has made in his or her setup?
Mike Schultz: Oh, I can’t think of one specific thing, but I do know everybody comes up to me and, and wants their own personal touch on it. Like, oh, I think it should, should move here. Or, or move less. More resistance. Less resistance.
and I think you should, you know, change the design here or there. I shouldn’t say everybody does that, but there’s, there’s a few people that are like constantly, oh, you gotta do this, you gotta do this. I’m like, yeah, I already thought about that. If like, trust me, trust me, I know I, I, I know you know how, how to make this work.
And, uh, you know, if I had unli unlimited funding for r and d. Yeah, we could do some really cool stuff and make it way better and, and, uh, that’s what I’m looking to into the future. I love to design and innovate things and so [00:30:00] my mind is always turning for new ideas, how to make things better, faster, stronger.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. What problems do you see or do you, when you go to a new slope? Do you find new problems to, or challenges to solve?
Mike Schultz: Uh, I guess, uh, like the biggest thing, uh, during, uh, you know, when we’re traveling the World Cup tour, and for example, we’re racing border Cross, which is head-to-head racing and over jumps and, and turns and higher speeds.
Um, and the other event is banks slalom, which is. A series of tight bank turns race against the clock. And so the, the settings, for example, on border cross course compared to bank slalom, the air pressures will actually be less, or the resistance is gonna be less in border cross compared to bank slalom, which seems a little backwards.
But, uh, the g-forces that we’re getting in the turns of a bank slalom course, really require a lot of. Force and resistance to, to the knee flexion.
Alison Brown: So [00:31:00] same prosthetic, just different adjustments made to it. In between races.
Mike Schultz: Yeah. Just grab the air pump and pump some more air into it. ’cause it uses the air spring.
Alison Brown: Can you then adjust it in between heats if you need it to? Yeah, it’s very easy.
Mike Schultz: It’s like, so there’s two general adjustments. One is air pressure as a spring rate, and then the other is hydraulic dampening. And those are all externally adjustable. You know, within a minute or two. As long as you have your tools with, as long as you got the air pump in your backpack
Jill Jaracz: is a banked SLA class or banked slalom course more predictable maybe.
’cause it’s just you and your lane versus you against four people.
Mike Schultz: Yeah, there’s less. Uncontrollable variables, in bank slalom compared to border cross. ’cause, border cross, we’re fighting for the same turn, right? Trying to fit four guys into a, into a small turn. So anything can happen there. Uh, the bank slalom sometimes are, are really.
Tricky because of the way the course is set up. they’re all hand shaped and [00:32:00] so, you know, depending on the maintenance and the build of it, the, the type of turns can fluctuate a lot. And you know, some of ’em are super tight and some of ’em are drawn out. so that’s like the biggest challenge with bank slalom is just the inconsistency of the turns throughout.
Alison Brown: And just to close up, did you get to enjoy Oscar, the Chinese announcer in Beijing? Could you hear him? You hear him?
Jill Jaracz: Did you hear the, do you hear that stuff when you were racing?
Alison Brown: No, no.
Jill Jaracz: I, so good. Course. My, my best day in Beijing was watching you compete. Oh, that’s awesome. Border. That’s, it was just so, the venue was so much fun.
Oh, yeah. And the pricing was so good. I was so happy. I had a
Mike Schultz: blast in Beijing and Borders. That was, uh, the, the course was super fun to ride and just like, yeah. The, the competition was. Good, tight, exciting, and, uh, I loved it. I can’t wait. I can’t wait for, for Italy and, and see what happens there.
Jill Jaracz: Have, have you been to the course in Italy?
Mike Schultz: No, we haven’t. We haven’t, uh, had a test event there or any event there. Uh, a few years ago they did have a World [00:33:00] Cup, but I wasn’t able to make it.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. Have you gotten Intel on the course?
Mike Schultz: I know nothing. Oh,
Jill Jaracz: no. So when you No, we go in blind. When, when you do that. It how fast does it take to learn a course then
Mike Schultz: I, you know, we usually get like two days of, of training on it.
Okay. And you know, it takes probably like three, four laps to really get, get it dialed in so you know what to expect.
Jill Jaracz: Okay. Excellent.
Alison Brown: Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Noah Elliott interview
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much, Mike. Finally, we have Noah Elliot. Noah is a two-time Paralympian winning gold in banked slalom and bronze in snowboard cross. At pyeongchang 2018, we spoke with Noah about snowboard and his grueling recovery from revision surgery to his re residual limb. Take a listen.
parallel bank slalom. Yes. How much G-Force are you feeling when you’re in there?
Noah Elliott: Oh, you know, I wish I could put a number on it.
Mm-hmm. Like, because it is really a cool feeling and I think it’s an like a feeling I wish everyone could experience at least once in their life. Like it’s almost okay if I had to like relate it to [00:34:00] something I would have to say like when you’re in a plane and you get like turbulence and you get like that compaction.
And that that like jump and like your stomach drops a little bit. That’s the feeling.
Jill Jaracz: How is it if you’re just going down a hill for people who ski or snowboard regularly and they’re shushing down a hill? Yeah. What’s, how does it vary? ’cause you’re in a bank.
Noah Elliott: Yeah. No, it, it changes obviously with the banks because of the speed and the G forces that you get.
In the bank of the turn, um, just like a skate park. If you go to a skate park, you see the bowl people carve around. It’s kinda the same thing where it like sucks you up against the wall and so you’re actually riding high on the turn versus when you’re just like out free riding somewhere on the trail.
Um, without a bank. It’s just nice, easy turns, which is awesome.
Alison Brown: And. Bank, slalom versus snowboard cross. Yes. What’s the skill difference?
Noah Elliott: Yeah, you know, that’s a good question. I’d say if I had to describe it, like the major difference is being able to carve very, very well. Because [00:35:00] bank solemn is solely like about carving and pumping and being fluid and having a nice line versus snowboard.
Cross mixes a lot of different things so you don’t have to be as precise in certain areas. even though it is still extremely precise. So it’s like you get away, you can kind of get away with more in bank som at times. but it’s still like. Uh, or sorry, border Cross. You can get away a little bit with Border Cross a little bit sometimes versus like a bang sla if you like mess up one turn that can like end the day.
Alison Brown: What kind of snow do you like?
Noah Elliott: I like firmer snow because of skateboarding and it feels more like concrete to me and it gives me something to push against.
Jill Jaracz: What did you think of the snow in Beijing?
Noah Elliott: Uh, the snow in Beijing. Was interesting. You know, it was different than anything else we had seen. It was, it was funky feeling, it was a funky snow and uh, it was manmade.
So there’s that, and we see that all over the world. But for some reason, their snow was just an interesting consistency.
Alison Brown: And then it was warm. And then it was warm. [00:36:00] And how does that affect, I mean, that changes the snow, but how does that affect you? Because all of a sudden you’re standing out there in the sun and sweating.
Noah Elliott: Yeah, and I hate to sweat. I, I really do. You know, I run so hot all the time. Uh, and so when I’m thinking about like warm days on snow, like they can be fun, they can feel like the beach or whatever. But if I’m competing, I definitely want a cold day.
Alison Brown: Have you been on the course in Milan? Well, that’s actually Cortina, it’s, it’s in
Noah Elliott: Cortina, but I actually haven’t, so we had a, an event there World Cup a few years ago and I was unfortunately not able to make it.
So I’ve never actually even been to Cortina. I’m really looking forward to it.
Jill Jaracz: Back on banking and stuff for both events. You do? Yes. Do you look for the best line to go through? You know, when you go and look at the course and try to learn the course, are you’re like, I want this line. Or if you. Go into a bank.
Mm-hmm. Or to, into a turn.
Noah Elliott: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Not at the optimal line. Can you correct it midway through
Noah Elliott: so that I love these questions. You guys are so great. Like this is awesome. Yes, you a hundred percent can correct it into a turn. Um, and it is [00:37:00] about having an idea of the line and sometimes you’re slightly off of it.
Sometimes you’re executing it. sometimes it changes throughout the day. You know, you might start off in the morning and one line will be faster, and then two runs later. All of a sudden now there’s a new fast run line. And so it’s making those adaptations and being adjustable and adaptable. Gonna help you win at the end of the day,
Jill Jaracz: how do you figure that out?
Noah Elliott: So it’s, it’s a mix of communication between the coaches, the athletes, and, you know, for us it’s time on course. You get to watch people go and you can kind of get an idea sometimes of like, that line looks to be a little bit faster, you know? And we are experts at it. We read the train all the time, so we’re kind of easier to like plug and play and say, okay, that line looked really fast through two, or, you know, down at four.
All of a sudden the line is different. You wanna go wide around it.
Alison Brown: So then you have the advantage of other people going before you, but then the disadvantage of the course starts getting chewed up.
Noah Elliott: Oh yeah. And the course gets chewed up immediately because there’s so many athletes on course. You know, we run four at a time and board across and, and banks [00:38:00] sla, you know, the snow con conditions can change throughout the day as well.
That’s another factor. You know, you might start with really firm and then it could go completely soft and by the afternoon it’s like Sandy almost. So there’s everything in between and it’s just kinda like trying to figure out that recipe and like build your cake.
Jill Jaracz: Do you then have to adjust your prosthesis along with the conditions?
Man,
Noah Elliott: you guys are awesome. Like I love this.
Jill Jaracz: Yes.
Noah Elliott: Come back
Jill Jaracz: for more. Yeah, for sure. Say good card for sure.
Noah Elliott: Oh, for sure. I’m grabbing one of these. Um, yeah. I do adjust my prosthesis based on snow conditions. If it’s firmer, I pump the PSI up. If it’s softer, I dampen it and it even changes from if I’m on a.
Border cross or bank slalom, or if I’m just out free riding.
Alison Brown: We did see pictures of your prosthetic and it’s a little funky looking.
Noah Elliott: Yes. Yeah.
Alison Brown: What is that about?
Noah Elliott: Oh my God. Yeah. For lack
Alison Brown: of a better way to ask the question. Hey.
Noah Elliott: Yeah. I mean, you’d have to ask my teammate Mike Schultz. He’s the guy who designed it, but uh, we talked with him earlier
Jill Jaracz: today.
Oh yeah. He’s great. We talked all prosthetics with him. Oh yeah. Good
Noah Elliott: stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it’s actually really [00:39:00] funny because it’s something we don’t really talk about that often, but there are equipment failures and that’s something that we deal with a lot and when we’re on the road. I have broken equipment and you know, obviously I have a deal with Mike, so he helped me out and we take care of it.
but that’s something that, like one time I remember the story where I was at home, I went into my training and then I broke a component and I had to ship it out to Mike. And so I go to the post office and I was gonna box it at the post office. And I get there and the guy’s like. Is that like a car shock joint?
What is that? And I’m like, that’s my leg. Thank you though.
Jill Jaracz: My snowboarder the car. Right? How well does Duct tape help? Duct tape. Yeah. Are you a duct tape person when, when you have to?
Noah Elliott: I am a hundred percent, yes. And uh, there’s actually a really, like the legendary Baker Bank slalom race that goes on in Washington is cool.
Duct tape has a special meaning in snowboarding, which is pretty funny. [00:40:00]
Alison Brown: WD 40,
Noah Elliott: WD 40 all the time. Yeah. Keep, keep the components clean.
Alison Brown: I wanna ask about the injury leading up to Beijing. Yes. Because that was. A little gnarly to read about. Yes. So how does that func, I mean, how did that happen and how did that work out?
Noah Elliott: Yeah, you know, it’s one of those things where, you know, you get a surgery and they say, Hey, these things could go wrong. This was kind of one of those things. And what happened was, you know, they amputate my leg. And what they do is they stretch the muscles. They pull the muscles and they like wrap ’em and suture them together.
And that creates a padding for the bone so that your bone isn’t going through the skin. What happened to me is the sutures tore and the muscles retracted back ’cause they weren’t connected. And so I ended up having this like oddly shaped limb for a couple years, and because of it, I had a pressure injury that had started at the beginning of that season.
We went to a training camp in Safa, Switzerland, and it was there and I just, I could hardly wear my leg and the wound got really bad and [00:41:00] right when I needed my leg to be at, its. Best it became its worst. You know, we were in, um, Norway at World Championships and my only goal for the day was to defend my bank solemn title and try to get another one.
And I successfully did that. But the entire day, my leg had hurt so much and I thought like, man, my leg is so sweaty today. And when I took my prosthetic off, come to find out it was blood. And so. I mean, it, it was a horrible experience. I went back, um, to the United States. We had two weeks till Beijing, so I’d already qualified, we’re like in the gauntlet of it, ready to go to war, in the games.
And yeah, I had to get my prosthetic refitted and I met. Thanks. Thank, thank God. Like I met a wound care specialist and she’s helped me tremendously. And the funny story to that, that I’ll get to, but she, uh. You know, she gave me a plan to where I was able to actually like, have padding and put stuff on my leg so I wouldn’t have an infection, even with my bone exposed.
And we were able to have meetings with the team, USA doctor then, thanks to this collaborative effort. And I don’t know, like thinking back on how crazy I [00:42:00] was, made it happen, you know? And I went and competed like that. And then right after Beijing, I went home and got surgery. Wow.
Alison Brown: Okay. They gave us the one minute.
So what is the crazy story?
Noah Elliott: Uh, yeah, so, uh, Kate’s my girlfriend now, so she’s my wound care. Yeah. Yeah. That’s pretty awesome. Yeah, she, she really loves to take care of me and she, she’s amazing. So, um, yeah, I couldn’t thank her enough. I would not have been in Beijing without her.
Jill Jaracz: In Beijing, were you aware of the atmosphere at all? Because I, I will say, when I went out to see. Cross. That was my best day in Beijing. I was there the whole time. That was my best day. Okay. ’cause the, the people were so fun. The announcers were so much fun. Oh yeah. And that music was great and it was just pumping and everybody was having a good, all the competitors seemed to be having fun.
Noah Elliott: Oh, it was fun. I mean, it’s a blast and you wait four years, you train so hard to hopefully make it. And I mean, just like every other games, you know, it was that energy that, that magic to it.
Alison Brown: Okay. Alright, perfect. Thank you. Please be in touch. Oh yeah, definitely.
Yeah,
Jill Jaracz: I Thank you so much, Noah. And, [00:43:00] and that’s it. We’re done with our media summit interviews, which means we gotta get some more interviews and get on a plane to get them. I’m so scared.
Alison Brown: I am so overwhelmed by this trip. But yeah, the team USA summit I’m gonna go with. We had such a great time at the team, uh, USA media summit, everything went really smoothly. So I’m gonna take that as our test event and everything’s gonna go great. That it will. We’ll
Jill Jaracz: see
Alison Brown: you there.
Milano Cortina 2026 News
Alison Brown: Uh, C Cho latte.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. Oh, Hershey’s has announced a limited edition product, and Ben and I saw the commercial for this, and he immediately went, how can you buy one? These are Hershey’s chocolate medals. They’re metal sized. They have embossed designs. They’re wrapped in gold foil. They did not say in the commercial how you could get them.
And then the press release showed up in my inbox. Yay. [00:44:00] So on February 7th, the first 400 guests at Hershey’s Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Times Square in New York City will get a free chocolate metal. And then the Hershey store in Hershey’s opens at 9:00 AM Times Square, opens at 10:00 AM that day.
If you’re lining up, that’s, that’s your time slots. The official launch date for the, the product is February 13th on TikTok shop and February 14th at the Hershey store online while supplies last. I don’t know how long these are gonna be in stock.
Alison Brown: They do look tasty, so that’s the problem. Do you eat them or do you save them?
Jill Jaracz: You take a picture of it, then you eat it.
Alison Brown: I like that plan.
Jill Jaracz: And a fun note, Shuk Stanis, Aaron Jackson and Jason Brown were two of the athletes that Hershey teamed with along with their families for this effort. So I am wondering if the, this is gonna be like the new Proctor and Gamble ad.
Alison Brown: I would love to share some chocolate with my [00:45:00] family. There you go. Milan Cortina has been dumping informa information on us right and
Jill Jaracz: left.
Alison Brown: I know. And you wonder why I’m scared. I’m so overwhelmed by all this information. I cannot process it quickly enough.
Maybe I need more chocolate and the caffeine it rides.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And you know, and I have felt a very, uh, Italian attitude, it seems to be, from what I understand, where it’s just kind of, uh, it, this will happen. This will happen. Then all of a sudden it’s happening. All of this information comes and like you say, no time to process it because we have to pack and get on planes.
So how much will we be able to do and what, it’s not fomo, it’s not fear of missing out. It’s fear of not knowing I’m missing out. Fomo. That’s, that’s what I, that sounds Italian or fomo, I guess. Fear of knowing that I’m missing out. So, here are some of the things that are going to be happening. If you are go Wing, there will be fan zones in most ve venue [00:46:00] clusters.
Milano, Borneo, Lao, Corina, Braso. Bru neck and they will repeat. They will be repeating that daily Champions celebration that was started at Paris 2024. Athletes do this voluntarily, so you may not see everybody who got a medal that day, but, but this is, a repetition of that celebration that the athletes were so excited about.
Bru. Brune will not have the Champions celebration. Instead, that will be at Anol Salva, which is the biathlon venue. So they’re, they’re gonna be close to biathlon. There’s gonna be stuff to do. I’m kind of hoping to get out to one of the mountains because they were, they’re gonna have this
photo slash music exhibit kind of thing where it’s archived Winter Olympics photos set to music. That’s gonna be playing somehow like DJ music. Yeah, it sounded really cool.
Alison Brown: I hope it’s not like those singing photos that they had at Paris 2024 that were so [00:47:00] disturbing.
Jill Jaracz: Well gonna take installation. It’s, it’s, it’s supposed to be like a, like a part of the cultural Olympia type ish stuff.
Alison Brown: Are they gonna make the 1956 photos sing?
Jill Jaracz: Oh boy. I don’t,
Alison Brown: I hope not.
Jill Jaracz: Mm. In Milano, there’s going to be an Olympic Boulevard that starts at the Milano Central Station and goes past Paone, Piazza Duomo and Arco de la Pacha. Along the route are, will be the partner, pavilions, country houses, light installations, Olympic rings, and more.
We will have a link to that in the show notes. Each cluster is doing fun things with the cultural Olympiad. Check out that list if you’re going all of the stuff that there is to do the fan zone in Milano. Sounds great. If we can get there. There’s so much to do. We have more opening ceremony news.
Many more performers were announced. [00:48:00] They include Metzo Soprano, Cecilia Bartoli, pianist, Lang Lang, or pianist Lang Lang and Rapper Gali, who is was quoted as being the voice of a generation in constant motion.
Theme Music: I don’t even know what that means.
Jill Jaracz: I don’t either. But somebody’s had fun writing press releases.
Alison Brown: They’re getting a little punchy. They need some espresso and some chocolate.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. They also need to sell some tickets because they now have discounted tickets on sale. So. We got a press release saying people 26 and younger can get two for one tickets for category D while availability lasts.
These are the cheapest category prices for the opening ceremonies. However, some people like our friend Ken Hanscomb, have been able to buy the two for ones with no age limit. So if you’re interested in opening ceremony tickets on the cheap to get a pair on the cheap, just try. You never know. Milano Cortina has released a new [00:49:00] poster.
Called Anniversary 1956 to 2026 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Cortina Deso 1956. It was created by Italian artist, Parlo Ro and unveiled at the Corina Stop of the Torch Relay. The poster will be distributed by One Art and will be available online at the official Milano Corina eStore, and for sale at two locations in Corina.
We’ll have the poster in those addresses in the show notes. Did you look at this poster?
Alison Brown: I did not.
Jill Jaracz: It’s beautiful. I just, that you would
Alison Brown: expect
Jill Jaracz: just, well, I expected it from the official posters, which I do not love. I don’t hate them, but they did not float my boat the way that this one does.
Alison Brown: Well there now you have a poster for you to love
Jill Jaracz: on sale in Cortina, Finally, if you are in Australia. Dreamworld, a theme park in the Gold Coast has become the official theme park partner of the Australian Olympic Committee. What does that mean for you? Well, first on February [00:50:00] 17th, there was going to be an Olympic watch party at the park with Olympians in attendance. We don’t have any more information on that, so there’s info to come.
Uh, we’ll put Dream World’s website in the show notes so you can check out the details and, and find them for yourself. If you go, let us know. Because I wanna know how this is gonna work out.
Alison Brown: Like, do they gonna have rides that are based on events that would make sense? Or a shop,
Jill Jaracz: I don’t know. I don’t know what they’re gonna do.
Maybe a challenge. Ride all these rides in a, in a, in, in one day.
Alison Brown: It’ll be the decathlon of theme parts.
Team Keep the Flame Alive News
Welcome to Shuk Stan.
Jill Jaracz: It is the time of the show where we check in with our team, keep the flame alive. These are past guests and listeners of the show who make up the citizenship of our very own country, Shuk Stan, first up.
Alison Brown: Cross country skiers. Julia Kern and Gu Schumacher [00:51:00] were officially named to team USA
Jill Jaracz: at the Speed Skating World Cup in Incel, Germany.
Aaron Jackson got fourth in the women’s first 500, fifth in the 1000 meter, and seventh in the second 500 meter.
Alison Brown: US Paralympic Swimming announced. Its 2026 National Team Roster, which includes Shuk, Tani’s, Jessica Long Mackenzie Cohen, Elizabeth Marks, Olivia Chambers, and Jamal Hill.
Jill Jaracz: And Greco Roman wrestler, Alejandro Sancho will be competing in the 72 kilogram class at the 2026 Zach Rib open on February 8th.
summer sport starting up,
Alison Brown: I’m not ready for that.
Jill Jaracz: I know, I know.
Patrons get more!
Alison Brown: Now we gotta talk about what the Patreons are gonna be ready for.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. So I. Patrons get more because they are the lifeblood of the show. If we were, if it were not for our patrons, the our cauldron would literally go out because its show does cost money to produce on the regular, not just going to, uh, in a games.
It’s, money all year round. We try [00:52:00] to keep costs, low, but we still need your support to help pay for those. So we, we reward patrons regularly, but during the gains we up it. crank it up a notch as we should. So all paying members, no matter what level you are at, you’ll get an exclusive photo of the day that we take.
That does not go anywhere else on our socials. if you are at the silver level and up, you’ll get exclusive video content. This will be regular. Not necessarily every day, but we’ve done this once before. I have a little better handle on what to do. So we’re gonna try to make it often
Alison Brown: if
Jill Jaracz: you’re, and
Alison Brown: we’ll split this.
So some of this will be your video content. Some of this will be my video content. Now I know how to upload video content onto Patreon
Jill Jaracz: at the gold member level and up you will get exclusive audio content as well. This could be mixed zone tape or after we record the show or random audio of Italy or like, and I kept finding this stuff in my, [00:53:00] files when I got home.
So it would be like, oh, I, send along, this is audio of what it sounds like in the venue, or this is what it sounds like on the trains, or, or just things like that that help give you an audio landscape of what Italy is like. So yes. You can find out more about how to join our Patreon and get those benefits at patreon.com/flame Alive Pod.
Thank you so much and I’m excited to, to hang out with our patrons. I love all our listeners, but our patrons really help us along so
Alison Brown: they, they are very special citizens of Shuk Stan.
Jill Jaracz: That is true. That is true. So I may have landed by now.
Alison Brown: I hope so. If you didn’t, then there’s a problem.
Jill Jaracz: Well, it could still be in the air.
Alison Brown: Oh, okay.
Jill Jaracz: I mean, the show’s a little long, but I’m not sure it’s that long. I hope you have landed safely and are on your way to our apartment and everything is [00:54:00] perfectly fine. It’s gonna be, it’s gonna be. And next time we talk to you listeners. We’ll be in Milano Cortina ready to share it with you. Oh, I’m so excited.
I’m just scared.
Oh, we’ll get over the hump. We’ll get there. It’ll all be good. And we will produce, 32. Daily episodes for you from Milano Corina with all of the excitement that is going on there. So please look forward to it. We’re looking forward to, uh, celebrating another games with you and hanging out with you.
They are so much fun and you are so much fun to hang out with. So, looking forward to doing that. And that’s gonna do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening,
Alison Brown: and until next time, keep the flame alive.