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Athletes

Meece and Klug take 4th Gold at X Games 2019

Meece and Klug receive their gold medals.

Special Olympics Unified Sports® pair Henry Meece, Special Olympics Oregon, and Chris Klug, Olympic bronze medalist beat out nine other pairs to take home gold for a 4^th time at Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding at X Games Aspen 2019. Going into the race in Aspen, CO, Meece’s comfort level showed as he showered spectators with snow at the end of his practice runs. After the first race of the competition, Klug was feeling the pressure saying, “I better pick it up for my partner Henry on the second run.”

Chris Perdue, Daina Shilts and Henry Meece standing side by side in their winter gear fora group photo. — Chris Perdue, Daina Shilts and Henry Meece get ready to practice for the 2019 X Games in Aspen, Colorado.

The competition consisted of 10 pairs each made up of a Special Olympics athlete and a pro snowboarder. This is the fifth year that the Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding race has been part of X Games and it was the first medal event of this year’s games. The Unified X Games competition was the brainchild of pro-snowboarder Hannah Teter who says, “The Unified event is a great way to kick off X Games because it reminds us pros why we started snowboarding in the first place – to have fun and make friends.”

Hannah Teter and Daina Shilts during Special Olympics/ESPN Game Changer series interview after the competition.

ESPN is the global presenting sponsor and official media sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports®. In addition to covering the event on live television, ESPN taped Teter and her partner Daina Shilts, Special Olympics Wisconsin, for a Game Changer video series profile. Teter and Shilts placed fourth at this year’s event.

Gold medalist Henry Meece on a practice run down the slope on a snowboard. — Gold medalist Henry Meece on a practice run.

Here are the results.

Henry Meece (SO OR/USA) / Chris Klug - 34.78
Juan Guentrutripai (SO Chile) / Scotty Lago - 35.05
Chris Perdue (SO IN/USA) / Mike Schultz - 35.37
Daina Shilts (SO WI/USA) / Hannah Teter - 36.14
Cody Field (SO CO/USA) / Amy Purdy - 37.17
Carson Geiger (SO ID/USA) / Scotty James - 37.34
Chase Lodder (SO UT/USA) / Danny Davis - 39.00
Suk Il Hwang (SO Korea) / Sage Kotsenburg - 40.46
Joey Franken (SO CO/USA) / Silje Norendal - 41.75
Charlie Kleiman (SO NY/USA) / Jack Mitrani - 48.85

Silver medalist Juan Guentrutripai with his coach giving a thumbs up. — Silver medalist Juan Guentrutripai with his coach.

Bronze medalist Chris Perdue boarding down a slope during practice. — Bronze medalist Chris Perdue during practice.

Watch ESPN’s coverage.

X Games Unified Snowboarding Finals

TAGS: Unified Sports, ESPN, Daina Shilts, Snowboarding, North America, X Games

North America X Games Unified Sports ESPN Snowboarding Daina Shilts

Read more about our athletes

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