"Lawn bowls on ice." That's how Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 Team Australia competitor Sergeant Emily Lahey describes wheelchair curling.
"Curling is a lot harder than it looks," she said. "There's a lot of technique involved and it's certainly a game of strategy."
That strategy paid dividends on day 2 of the Games at the Hillcrest Recreation Centre in snowy Vancouver, where Team Australia picked up the first game of the day against Team USA, scoring 2-1.
It was a huge confidence builder for the 4 members of the team, who had only spent a short time on the ice in the lead-up to the Games.
"It was good to get a win on the board first up, especially against the US, one of our biggest rivals, so it was a really positive way to start the day and it's give the team a bit of confidence to go forward," Sergeant Lahey said.
The second game of the day went down to the wire, ending in a 1-all draw with Team Italy. The 2 teams went head-to-head again in the third game thanks to leaderboard placings, but the Italians proved too strong for our warriors, taking the game 3-1.
Wheelchair curling was just 1 of 6 winter sports being played at the 2025 Games, the first time snow sports have ever been included in the history of Invictus.
Days 3, 4 and 5 will focus on the rest of the snow sports competition at picturesque Whistler, including alpine skiing, snowboarding, biathlon, Nordic (cross-country) skiing and skeleton.
Other remaining sports - including indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming and wheelchair rugby - will close out the final days of competition through to the closing ceremony on 16 February.
Back at the Vancouver Convention Centre earlier on day 2, the battle against Team USA ended on a different note in the wheelchair basketball competition, with the Aussies going down to the formidable Stars and Stripes, 11-4, signalling the end of the road for the Aussie wheelchair basketballers.
Finn McCallum, 10-year-old son of Team Australia wheelchair curling competitor, Luke, summed up the true Invictus spirit, giving our wheelchair basketballers some perspective.
"I think everyone in Invictus are all winners in their own way; even if they lost to another team, they're still a winner."
