For the first time ever, ESPN and Special Olympics Unified Snowboarding invited 10 Special Olympics athletes to compete at X Games Aspen.
Today, Special Olympics athletes will be paired with X Games snowboarders to compete as Unified teams in a dual slalom race. Each teams’ scores will be combined to determine their final rankings. Highlights of the competition will be shown during Saturday’s coverage of X Games Aspen on ABC (1-6 p.m. ET).
ESPN is the global presenting sponsor and official media sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports, which combines athletes with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates, while empowering engagement through the power of sports.
As part of this collaboration, which expands on ESPN and Disney’s 30-year commitment to Special Olympics, ESPN supports Special Olympics’ goal of registering 1 million Unified Sports participants, including athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities), teammates (individuals without intellectual disabilities) and coaches.
As was announced in April, ESPN is also the global media partner for the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles, which begins on July 25, 2015.
Video produced by Samantha Baron
Joe Walsh contributed to this post
