Taulman, Wood To Compete At Paralympics In Beijing
February 17, 2022 | Skiing, Olympians
COLORADO SPRINGS–The official Olympians count for the Colorado Buffaloes at the XIV Winter Olympics in Beijing grew to 10 after the United States Olympic Committee announced the paralympic alpine teams, a list that includes sophomore Kyle Taulman and Forever Buff Spencer Wood.
Taulman is making his Olympic debut while Wood will be competing in his second Paralympics. The Games will take place in Beijing from March 4-13. Para alpine skiing consists of downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom, and super-combined in the sitting, standing, and visually impaired categories.
Taulman was left paralyzed at age 2 after a high-risk neuroblastoma wrapped around his spinal cord. He will be competing in the sitting category. He finished 12th in the Super G at the final World Cup event in Sweden ahead of the Paralympic Games.
At CU, he began CU's adaptive tennis club and competed at the College Wheelchair Tennis Championships. He was a featured speaker at CU's Inclusive Sports Summit Wednesday where he talked about his passion to bring more organized adaptive sports to CU, starting with tennis.
Wood also competed in the 2018 PeyongChang games when he took a semester off of CU to compete at the games. At that point, he was just three years into his competitive alpine skiing career. This season, he picked up a silver in slalom in NorAm races at Panorama, Canada. He also finished 14th in the world championships in the downhill.
He competes in the standing category. He suffered a stroke while in the womb, resulting in hemiplegia of the right side of his body. He first tried Para skiing in 2014 after attending a race camp sponsored by Disabled Sports USA (now Move United).
The U.S. team headed to Beijing is made up of 14 men and three women with a mixture of youth and experience.
Tentatively, the alpine schedule includes downhill races (all three categories, both genders) on March 5 followed by Super G races on March 6. After a day off, the Super Combined races will take place March 8, which include Super G and slalom runs. Men's GS will take place March 10, women's GS on March 11, men's slalom on March 12, and women's slalom on March 13.
The 30 medals given out in alpine skiing are the most of any of the six sports that will take place. Overall, athletes compete in 78 different events across six sports. Of the other five sports, three are snow sports with cross country skiing, biathlon, and snowboarding, and two are ice sports, para ice hockey, and wheelchair curling.
Taulman is making his Olympic debut while Wood will be competing in his second Paralympics. The Games will take place in Beijing from March 4-13. Para alpine skiing consists of downhill, super G, giant slalom, slalom, and super-combined in the sitting, standing, and visually impaired categories.
Taulman was left paralyzed at age 2 after a high-risk neuroblastoma wrapped around his spinal cord. He will be competing in the sitting category. He finished 12th in the Super G at the final World Cup event in Sweden ahead of the Paralympic Games.
At CU, he began CU's adaptive tennis club and competed at the College Wheelchair Tennis Championships. He was a featured speaker at CU's Inclusive Sports Summit Wednesday where he talked about his passion to bring more organized adaptive sports to CU, starting with tennis.
Wood also competed in the 2018 PeyongChang games when he took a semester off of CU to compete at the games. At that point, he was just three years into his competitive alpine skiing career. This season, he picked up a silver in slalom in NorAm races at Panorama, Canada. He also finished 14th in the world championships in the downhill.
He competes in the standing category. He suffered a stroke while in the womb, resulting in hemiplegia of the right side of his body. He first tried Para skiing in 2014 after attending a race camp sponsored by Disabled Sports USA (now Move United).
The U.S. team headed to Beijing is made up of 14 men and three women with a mixture of youth and experience.
Tentatively, the alpine schedule includes downhill races (all three categories, both genders) on March 5 followed by Super G races on March 6. After a day off, the Super Combined races will take place March 8, which include Super G and slalom runs. Men's GS will take place March 10, women's GS on March 11, men's slalom on March 12, and women's slalom on March 13.
The 30 medals given out in alpine skiing are the most of any of the six sports that will take place. Overall, athletes compete in 78 different events across six sports. Of the other five sports, three are snow sports with cross country skiing, biathlon, and snowboarding, and two are ice sports, para ice hockey, and wheelchair curling.