The BC Winter Games begin tomorrow (March 23), marking its official return since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And several dozen young Tri-Cities athletes are looking to reach the podium at the four-day biannual event in the Greater Vernon area.
In total, 47 teens will be representing Anmore, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody out of nearly 900 competitors from all over the province.
They span 10 different sports, ranging from classic winter competitions, like alpine skiing, curling and figure skating, to indoor tournaments, like gymnastics, badminton and judo.
As well, all but one athlete are set to suit up for the Fraser River team, classified as Zone 4, in the medal standings.
The last time the BC Winter Games were held was 2020 in Fort St. John only weeks before sports and recreational activities were put on hold by the pandemic.
Other factors that led to the 2022 event's postponement were flooding and wildfires in many parts of the province, said BC Games Society spokesperson David Conlin in a statement.
The BC Winter Games are scheduled to take place from March 23 to 26.
The Tri-Cities athletes looking to bring back a medal are as follows (in alphabetical order):
Anmore
- Meghan Hartley, ringette
- Jinyang (James) He, alpine skiing
- Aletheia Urstad, artistic gymnastics
Coquitlam
- Elika Aghaei, judo
- Jasmine Atkins, artistic gymnastics
- Andrew Baker, curling
- Adema Bolzhobekova, judo
- Ilonna Chen, figure skating
- Jacey Chen, ringette
- Carmen Chong, curling
- Harper Dai, badminton
- Ashley Fenton, curling
- Charlene Fong, figure skating
- Aleksei Gaevskii, figure skating
- Rhyan Holmes, ringette
- Harrison Hrynew, curling
- Ember Jones, ringette
- Jasper Jung, judo
- Jayden Kent, ringette
- Elizabeth Khrisanova, archery
- Maksym Klymenko, judo
- Anika Kong, judo
- Tianna Li, figure skating
- Eden Liang, badminton
- Sidney Norrington, curling
- Gabrielle Ritchey, ringette
- Mateo Sagarbarria, archery
- Dylan Santelli, archery
- Chloe Su, badminton
- Ara Yoo, curling
- Matthew Yun, judo
- Audrey Zhang, badminton
- Daniel (YuXuan) Zhang, badminton
Port Coquitlam
- Megan Antosh, judo
- Clara Fretwell, artistic gymnastics
- Luke Halmrast, curling
- Alina Kisselev, rhythmic gymnastics
- Sophia Marr, figure skating
- Arden Rae, archery
- Amy Ritchie, figure skating
Port Moody
- Ethan Chiu, curling
- Isaac Chu, archery
- Hannah De Carvalho, wheelchair basketball
- Vancouver-Coastal Zone 5
- Sam Groves, archery
- Charlotte Hoyme, alpine skiing
- Aly Ibrahim, artistic gymnastics
- Amy-Anne Rogers, ringette
