Navigating disability, youth and competitive skiing: Saylor O’Brien’s journey as a 2022 Winter Paralympic hopeful

By: Katy Brennan

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[Image Description: Saylor skis in the snow.]

Situated in Beijing, China, the 2022 Winter Paralympics have always been a dream for Saylor O’Brien. Where most may yearn to merely attend the festivities, Saylor aspires to a larger objective: She hopes to compete in the games. 

From the time she was three or four-years-old, Saylor has been preparing for that moment. She recalls that from a very young age, skiing was something far simpler, but still formative. Her parents would place her in a pair of skis as she watched TV, hoping that eventually she would feel comfortable enough to take her skis from the living room to snowier terrain. And, eventually she did. 

When Saylor felt ready, she began formal lessons. And, by the age of 10, she was already familiar with the racing circuits. That’s when she became interested in the Olympics. 

As her interest in competitive skiing grew, Saylor and her family began to search for a program and team to join. They eventually came across the National Ability Center (NAC) — an organization that provides adaptive recreation and outdoor adventures for individuals and families of differing abilities, including competitive athletes, youth, veterans and more — where Saylor joined their competitive ski team and has remained ever since. Through the NAC’s High Performance team programming, adaptive athletes have excelled in Alpine skiing and snowboarding, advancing to the Paralympics because of the diligent training provided to each competitor. In 2014, Saylor joined the competition team, embarking on what would become a journey to the 2022 Paralympic Games. 

While most teenagers are preoccupied with high school drama rather than Olympic aspirations, Saylor has struck a balance between school and training. In the winter, she trains from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., five days a week. And, during her off season, she often participates in long camps to maintain her skills. Between trainings, she finds time to take classes online through Picabo Street Academy, a school tailored to students whose passions may conflict with a more standard school schedule. By doing so, she has been able to continue her education without sacrificing her dream.

While her age has never restricted her training schedule, Saylor did note that one of her largest challenges is being taken seriously as a teenager. Most of her competitors are much older than her, and at times, she doesn’t feel like she is treated as their equal. Nonetheless, she does not let this fact hinder her ambition, and encourages others to pursue a similar path if they are interested.

Saylor emphasized that her biggest piece of advice for anyone trying out adaptive sports is to not focus on comparisons. She noted how it’s incredibly common to compare your relative ability, skills and other factors when beginning. However, these comparisons do not actually matter in the long run.

“Focus on fulfilling your life,” Saylor said. “There’s no time to care about who’s better at a sport.”

As she pushes onward to the 2022 Paralympics, Saylor communicated how important it is to bring awareness to the games. She shared that she feels as if coverage of the events only focuses on the good parts, the successes of athletes, without highlighting the struggles they went through to get there. In order to truly cover this event, Saylor advocates for holistic storytelling, highlighting the good and the bad, and working towards increased awareness of the games overall. Whereas the Olympics receives mass media attention, the same media energy does not always follow the Paralympics. However, this coverage is critical to showcasing what the Paralympics are and in representing disability as a diverse experience, not an inherent disadvantage. 

In sharing what Diversability means to her, Saylor reiterated this message, stating that it is so important to put diversity and disability together, because it is imperative that the topics be discussed simultaneously. The inclusion of both provides a fuller picture of the good and the bad in living with a disability.