Fan favorites and newcomers alike hit the slopes for the eighth annual Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding and third annual Unified Skiing competitions on 27 January at the X Games Aspen 2023. Competitors came from across Europe, North America and the Pacific including Canada, Finland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and USA.
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The unified skiing and snowboarding teams consisted of one Special Olympics athlete and one X Games athlete. Each team member took one run on each of the two competition courses, with the professional athletes racing against one another and the Special Olympics athletes racing one another. To determine the final rankings, each teams’ scores averaged the Special Olympics athlete and their teammates’ time.
The pro-athlete roster consisted of twelve of the world’s best action sports athletes raced Special Olympics athletes in competition including: Victoria Arlen, ESPN SportsCenter host and Special Olympics Champion Ambassador, Hanna Faulhaber, Elisabeth Hosking, Chris Klug, Sage Kotsenburg, Scotty Lago, Craig McMorris, Nico Porteous, Mons Røisland, Tom Wallisch, David Wise and rapper, singer and songwriter Yung Gravy.
Defending champions Special Olympic athlete Daina Shilts and Olympic silver medalist Mons Røisland paired up again for back-to-back win capturing gold medals in the snowboarding competition with a combined team score of 29.4 seconds. The gold medals in skiing were awarded to Special Olympics athlete Haldan Pranger and Olympic skier Hanna Faulhaber with a combined time of 26.3 seconds. Halden earned silver last year with pro partner Aaron Blunck.
Unified Snowboarding
| Special Olympics Athlete | X Games Athlete | Combined Team Score |
| Daina Shilts | Mons Røisland | 29.4 |
| Catherine Darrow | Elizabeth Hosking | 30.246 |
| Henry Meece | Chris Klug | 30.247 |
| Cody Field | Craig McMorris | 31.1 |
| Ion Adrian Frantsi | Scotty Lago | 33.5 |
| William Ethridge | Sage Kotsenburg | 1.05:54 |
Unified Skiing
| Special Olympics Athlete | X Games Athlete | Combined Team Score |
| Haldan Pranger | Hanna Faulhaber | 26.3 |
| Luca Vergnano | Nico Porteous | 27.0 |
| Tanner Jadwin | David Wise | 27.6 |
| Palmer Lyons | Victoria Arlen | 29.1 |
| Jacqueline Trudeau | Tom Wallisch | 29.7 |
| Oceane Gendre | Yung Gravy | 35.2 |
Special Olympics Unified Sports® joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. Since 2013, X Games’ broadcast partner—ESPN—has been the Global Presenting Sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports and supports unified activation around the world.
