Decorated Team Yukon squad selected for Special Olympics Canada Games

Yukon's next squad of Special Olympics athletes was announced Monday afternoon, as the team travelling to the 2020 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games was unveiled at the Sport Yukon offices.

Ten athletes: figure skaters Michael Sumner and Tijana McCarthy;curlers Albert Bill, Carrie Rudolph, Chris Lee, Edward Kaye, and Gaetan Michaud; and cross country skiers Darby McIntyre, Ernest Chua and Owen Munroe will be headed to the games. They'll be joined by a small group of coaches and mission staff.

Qualifying for the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games is no small feat. Participating athletes had to earn their spot on the team by placing well at the 2019 Special Olympics BC Winter Games, held in February in Vernon.

However, many of the Yukon athletes have experience at big competitions. Sumner, McCarthy, and Chua have all competed for Team Canada at the Special Olympics World Winter Games, where Sumner won silver medals in 2013 and 2017.

At that event, Chua won a gold medal, while McCarthy picked up a silver.

All three skiers and both figure skaters picked up gold medals at the 2016 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games.

The 23-year-old Sumner sayshe's hoping to add more hardware to his collection at the 2020 edition, which will take place in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

"I'm hoping for gold again," he said. "I've been, so far, successful in my figure skating career. I've won three gold medals. So I'd like to try to make it a fourth."

The games, Sumner said, are about competition, but also about making friends and having fun he says he's made "100 to 200 friends" at past games.

"I talk to a lot of people," he said, with a laugh.

After being announced, it's back to training for Team Yukon. Sumner says he's combining four on-ice sessions a week with off-ice fitness training. He's said he hopesthe upcoming Games will be where he's able to debut a one-and-a-half rotation jump. He hasn't been able to land it yet, but isgetting close, he said.

"I'm always looking forward to competing against anybody," he said. "Even if I don't know them ... I'll get to know everybody."

The 2020 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games runs from Feb. 24 to Mar. 1.